Cypriot Greek: Its Phonology and Inflections [Reprint ed.] 3111253287, 9783111253282

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JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI VAN WIJK DEDICATA edenda curat C. H. V A N S C H O O N E V E L D Indiana University

Series Practica

121

CYPRIOT GREEK ITS PHONOLOGY AND INFLECTIONS

by

BRIAN NEWTON

1972

MOUTON THE HAGUE · PARIS

© Copyright 1972 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER : 72-88202

Printed in Belgium by Nici Printers, Ghent

To N.N.

PREFACE

The aim of this study is to present an overall sketch of the phonology and inflectional morphology of the dialects of Greek currently spoken in Cyprus. The original intention was to operate within an essentially 'post-Bloomfieldian' framework in the belief that a 'taxonomic' exposition of the main facts, while incidentally providing convenient fodder for theorists, would equip the less linguistically oriented hellenist with some sorely needed information. However, as the net was cast increasingly wider, and first the various peripheral dialects of Cypriot Greek, then its standardizing elements were considered, the inadequacies of such a framework became even more obvious than they are in a description of a unitary language: the upshot is that while the first chapter on phonology, the paradigm presentations of Chapters 2 and 3, and the transcriptions of Chapter 7 are based on a traditional type of phonemic analysis, the morphophonemic sections and the inter-dialectal comparisons of Chapters 4 and 5 presuppose the existence of underlying phonological forms from which both standard and dialectal overt manifestations may be derived by the application of a set of ordered rules. This is not, however, to say that the present study purports to present a complete generative grammar, nor is it likely that such an enterprise could be supported by the available data: such generative concepts as are exploited represent no more than suggestions as to how such an approach to the data might be made. Distinctive features as such are not introduced until the 'rule restatement' of 6.4, and in general the presentation is informal (syncopated, to borrow a term from the history of algebra, rather than rhetorical, but certainly not symbolic). Although cynics might argue that the job of description is impeded rather than facilitated by knowledge extending beyond the basic essentials, I wish to express my painful awareness of serious gaps in my knowledge of Cypriot Greek; in particular much more extensive phonetic observations will have to be made, especially in western Cyprus, before the dialect geography of Cypriot Greek can be put on a basis less tentative than the one offered in Chapter 4; my excuse for presenting this study at all is that at the moment little else exists and that the rapid diffusion of Standard Demotic, evident in the remotest villages of the island, will make investigations such as the present one increasingly difficult. Existing works on Cypriot Greek are

8

PREFACE

few and for the most part devoted to explaining to Greeks the idiosyncratic characteristics of Cypriot as a whole. Of the works listed in the bibliography the most reliable information is probably still to be found in the various articles published by Menardos between 1896 and 1925; later publications tend to repeat him almost slavishly. My interest in Cypriot Greek, and indeed in Modern Greek generally, stems from three years' residence in Nicosia (1952-55), and my primary acknowledgement must be to my innumerable acquaintances in the island's villages for the unfailing charm, hospitality and, as informants, patience shown to me then, and during 1963, when the bulk of the data used in this study was collected. I am particularly grateful to my wife, Niki Newton, formerly of Nicosia, for providing an untiring and portable source of information, and to her mother, Alexandra Papalou. Useful information was also provided in Canada by Tasoulla Berggren, formerly of Zodhia. I am grateful to Wyn Roberts, of Simon Fraser University, for reading the work in manuscript and for making valuable comments. The fieldwork of 1963 was made possible by a grant of sabbatical leave from the University of Cape Town and was supported in part by the South African Council for Social Research. I would like to thank the publishers of Lingua for allowing me to reproduce portions of my article, "The Phonology of Cypriot Greek", in Chapter 1. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities Research Council of Canada, using funds provided by the Canada Council. The symbols used are based on North American usage. Vertical strokes enclose underlying phonological forms, slanting ones phonemic transcriptions (see § 2.2.0). Unenclosed items (in lists, etc.) are to be taken as phonemically transcribed. Readers will find that the rule summary given on pp. 119-21 will serve as a convenient index to the phonological framework of the book. Brian Newton Simon Fraser University

CONTENTS

PREFACE

7

TABLES

15

SYMBOLS A N D ABBREVIATIONS

17

1. SURFACE PHONOLOGY 1.0. Introduction 1.1. The Segmental Phonemes 1.1.0. Introductory 1.1.1. Phonemic Inventory 1.1.2. Phonetic Description 1.1.3. Problems in Contrast Establishment 1.1.3.0. /c, % k/ 1.1.3.1. /Θ, x/ 1.1.3.2. /x, s/ 1.1.3.3. /i, y1 1.1.3.4. Voicing Neutralization in Stops 1.2. Distribution of Segmental Phonemes 1.2.0. Single Consonants 1.2.1. Heterogeneous Two-Consonant Clusters 1.2.2. Geminate Clusters 1.2.2. 0 1.2.2. 1 1.2.2. 2 1.2.2. 3 1.2.3. Three-Consonant Clusters 1.2.4. Vowels 1.3. Suprasegmentale 1.3.0. Stress 1.3.0.0. Vowel Length

19 19 22 22 22 22 24 24 26 26 26 27 28 28 28 32 33 34 34 34 35 37 37 38 39

10

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.3.0.1. Pitch 1.3.1. Intonations 1.3.1.0. Final Intonation 1.3.1.1. Non-Final Intonation 1.3.1.2. Interrogative Intonation 1.3.1.3. Echoic Intonation 1.3.2. Distribution of Stress Within Intonation Groups 1.3.2. 0 1.3.2. 1 1.3.2. 2

.

.

.

39 41 41 41 42 42 43 43 43 44

2. THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN 2.1. Specimen Noun Paradigms 2.1.0. Introductory 2.1.1. Masculine Nouns 2.1.2. Feminine Nouns 2.1.3. Neuter Nouns 2.1.4. Summary of Alternations 2.2. Noun Morphophonemics 2.2.0. Introductory 2.2.1. Underlying Phonological Forms of Stems 2.2.2. Underlying Phonological Forms of Endings 2.2.3. Phonological Rules for Noun Paradigms 2.2.4. Specimen Derivations 2.2.5. Irregular paradigms 2.2.6. Masculine Genitive Plural 2.2.7. Vocative Forms 2.3. The Adjective 2.3.0. Introductory 2.3.1. Specimen Adjective Paradigms 2.3.2. Adjective Morphophonemics 2.3.3. Adjectives in Unstressed - /is/ 2.3.4. Comparison of Adjectives 2.3.5. Adverbialization of Adjectives 2.3.6. Demonstrative Adjectives 2.3.7. The Articles 2.3.8. Numerals 2.4. Pronouns 2.4.0. Personal Pronouns 2.4.1. Other Pronouns

45 45 45 45 46 47 48 49 49 49 50 50 56 56 57 58 58 58 58 59 60 60 61 61 62 62 63 63 64

3. THE VERB 3.0. Introduction

67 67

11

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3.1. Specimen Verb Paradigms 3.2. Verb Morphophonemics 3.2.0. Introductory 3.2.1. The Underlying Morphophonemic Representation of Indicative Verb Forms 3.2.2. Phonological Rules for Verbs 3.2.3. Specimen Derivations 3.2.4. Imperative Forms 3.2.5. Participles 3.2.6. fil - Prothesis 3.2.7. - /te/ Forms 3.2.8. Imperfective Stems in - /nn/ 3.2.9. Residual Irregularities 3.2.9. 0 3.2.9. 1 3.2.9. 2 3.2.9. 3 3.2.9. 4 3.2.9. 5 3.2.9. 6 3.2.9. 7 3.2.9. 8 3.2.9. 9 3.2.9.1 0 3.2.9.1 1 3.2.9.1 2 4. LOCAL VARIATION 4.0. Introduction 4.1. Local Variation in Existing Phonological Rules 4.1.0. Obstruent + /y/ Clusters (P 13) 4.1.1. Deletion of Intervocalic Voiced Slit Fricatives (P22) . 4.1.2. Geminate Vowel Reduction (P26) 4.1.3. Occlusivization of/θθ/(P27) 4.1.4. Devoicing of Fricative + Stop (P28) 4.1.5. Velarization of/θ/(P30) 4.1.6. /0r/-»/xr/(P31) 4.2. Further Local Rules 4.2.0. /sf/ Replacement 4.2.1. Loss of Intervocalic/s/ 4.2.2. Anaptyctic /k/ 4.3. Local Variation in Underlying Phonological Form .

.

68 71 71 72 75 78 80 82 83 83 84 84 84 84 85 86 86 87 87 88 88 88 88 89 89 91 91 92 92 96 98 98 99 100 102 103 103 103 104 105

12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4.3.0. 4.3.1. 4.3.2. 4.3.3.

Interchange of |v, 0, y| (xórisj for |fórisj Ί am in a hurry' 'Barley' and 'Goat'

105 107 107 108

5. STANDARD FORMS 5.0. Introduction 5.1. Underlying Form Replacement 5.2. Suspension of Palatalization 5.3. Suspension of Yodization 5.4. Suspension of |y| Replacement Rules 5.5. Learned Clusters

109 109 109 Ill 114 114 115

6. SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES 6.0. Rules Specific to Noun, Adjective and Pronoun 6.1. Rules Specific to Verb 6.2. General Rules 6.3. Sandhi 6.3. 0 6.3. 1 6.3. 2 6.3. 3 6.4. The Phonological Rules Restated

119 119 119 120 121 121 122 122 122 123

7. TEXTS 7.0. Introduction 7.1. Central Dialects 7.1.0. The Hoja Borrows a Pot 7.1.1. The Hoja's Grave 7.1.2. The Beanstalk 7.1.3. The Hoja's Trousers 7.1.4. The Flood 7.1.5. Goldhair 7.1.6. Moon in Well 7.1.7. The Two Friends 7.2. North Paphos 7.2.0. Goldilocks 7.2.1. Song 7.3. South Paphos 7.3.0. Kallepia 7.3.1. The Magic Boots 7.3.2. The Hoja as Doctor

132 132 133 133 134 135 136 136 137 139 140 143 143 149 152 152 152 153

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7.3.3. The Hoja's Grave 7.3.4. Cow on Roof 7.3.5. The Hoja's Oven 7.4. Karpas Peninsula . . . . 7.4.0. False Alarm 7.4.1. Tractor in Well . 7.4.2. The Hoja Borrows a Pot . 7.4.3. An Involved Story 7.4.4. The Voice Behind the Altar 7.4.5. The Three Princes

13 155 155 156 157 157 158 159 159 161 163

APPENDIX

176

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

186

MAPS

187

TABLES

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. J 0. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

The Distribution of [δ], ft], and [k] Heterogeneous Two-Consonant Clusters The Twelve General Types of Permissible Two-Consonant Clusters Masculine Nouns Feminine Nouns Neuter Nouns Segmental Alternation Between Nominative-Accusative Singular and Genitive Singular Specimen Adjective Paradigms Endings for Adjectival Stems Distribution of /itteros/ and /ótteros/ in the Comparison of Adjectives The Inflection of the Definite Article The Numeral Adjective /énas/ The Personal Pronouns of the First and Second Persons Unstressed Personal Pronouns of the Third Person Four Common Pronouns Imperfective Non-Past Active Perfective Non-Past Active Imperfective Past Active Perfective Past Active Imperfective Non-Past Passive Perfective Non-Past Passive Imperfective Past Passive Perfective Past Passive Imperative Various Third Person Forms Illustrating Types of Alternation Personal Endings of Verbs Miscellaneous Types of Irregular Alternation in Verbs Six Common Verbs With Four Underlying Stems The Paradigm of /ime/ Ί am' Obstruent + |y| Clusters Six Areal Types of |py|, |9y|, and |0y| Deletion of Intervocalic Voiced Slit Fricatives Geminate Vowel Reduction Occlusivization of |θθ| Devoicing of Fricative + Stop Velarization of |θ| Paradigm of |va0i + s | |9r| |xr| |sf| Replacement Loss of Intervocalic |s|

25 29 30 45 46 47 48 58 59 60 62 62 63 63 65 68 69 69 69 69 70 70 70 70 71 72 85 87 89 93 93 96 98 99 100 100 102 102 103 104

16 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47.

TABLES

Anaptyctic |k| Interchange of Ιν,δ,γΙ Ixórisl for |fóris| 'Barley' and 'Goat' Common Terms for Farm Animals, Kinship, and Household Furniture and Utensils . Feature Composition of the Underlying Consonant Units Derivations Illustrating the Operation of the Reformulated Rules

105 105 107 108 110 124 130

SYMBOLS A N D ABBREVIATIONS

/θ/ βI /x/ lyI /CI /k/ /§/ /zI Α,Ε,Ι,Ο,ϋ + # * ' " , ? ¿ Tk. sing. pi. nom. gen. acc. act. pass. perf. imp.

A voiceless dental fricative as in thigh A voiced dental fricative as in thy A voiceless fricative, palatal as in German Ich before front vowels, otherwise velar as in German Buch', for many speakers glottal as in hat intervocalically and initially before a vowel A voiced velar fricative as in Spanish fuego A palato-alveolar affricate as in chin (or gin when voiced) A palatal stop as in cute (or regular when voiced) A voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant as in she A voiced palato-alveolar sibilant as in French je Underlying vowels of two-mora length Morpheme boundary Word boundary 'or' When applied to a rule (e.g. '*P20') it indicates that the rule is obligatory; unmarked rules are optional in standardizing speech. Before a transcription it indicates incorrect 'output' Loud stress when word is italicized, otherwise medium stress Extra-loud stress Final intonation Non-final intonation Interrogative intonation Echoic intonation Turkish Singular Plural Nominative Genitive Accusative Active Passive Perfective Imperfective

1 SURFACE PHONOLOGY

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Greek is spoken as the mother tongue by about 450,000 inhabitants of Cyprus ; in the towns (Nicosia, Kyrenia, Famagusta, Larnaca, Limassol and Ktima) 1 the current type of Greek is quite closely related to that spoken on the Greek mainland. There is probably a fairly high degree of mutual intelligibility between the two groups of dialects, although in Cyprus the deliberate elimination of all characteristically Cypriot phonological, grammatical and lexical features is rare and is regarded as affected by most people, who use the verb /ellinikurizo/ of highly standardized styles of speech. Certain general comments are made on 'town speech' in Chapter 5, but the style of speech described in the bulk of the present work is that known in Cyprus as /xorkátika/ 'village dialect' or /cipriótika/ (/kipriaká/ being an elevated synonym). While speakers of village dialect do not nowadays experience much difficulty in following Standard Demotic and can often produce an approximation to it which is intelligible to mainland speakers, evidence derived from playing tape recordings to Athenian informants indicates that the intelligibility of Cypriot /xorkátika/ to the inhabitants of mainland towns is comparable to that of Dutch to speakers of High German. 'Village Greek' itself is not in fact a unitary dialect. It is a continuum of closely related types of speech linked by a series of independent phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses (i.e. no obvious 'bundles' of isoglosses were found, with the possible exception of those setting off the speech of northern Paphos). Certain important phonological isoglosses are discussed in Chapter 4, but unless otherwise stated it may be assumed that the language described is that of the inhabitants of Mesaoria (in dialect /mesarká/). This is the plain which lies to the East of Nicosia town between the Kyrenia range of mountains running along the north coast and the 1

The spelling used throughout is that of the Census of Population and Agriculture, 1 (Republic of Cyprus, Nicosia, 1960). In the present work the names listed refer to the towns themselves and not to the administrative districts of which they are the centres, unless the qualification 'district' is added. However, as in Greek Cypriot usage, 'Paphos' is used alone to refer to the district, 'Ktima' to its main town.

20

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

most easterly foothills of Mount Troodos (see Map 1). The phonological features which distinguish Mesarká speakers include the occurrence of (a) the cluster /pk/ in words such as /pkáto/ 'plate', /pkánno/ Ί take', corresponding to /ps, fk, k, kk/ elsewhere, (b) /0k/ in words such as /vú0ka/ 'oxen', /0kó/ 'two' corresponding to /k/ elsewhere and (c) /tt/ in items such as /petterá/ 'mother-in-law', /anáttema/ 'damnation!' which appear in the western and southern areas with /ΘΘ/. In addition to this geographical limitation there are two limitations of a stylistic nature, which follow from the decision, noted above, to base this study on /xorkátika/. The first (1) is that unintegrated foreign borrowings are excluded. In the case of items which are identifiable on syntactic criteria as belonging to the normally inflected categories of noun, adjective and verb, this limitation is interpreted to entail the rejection of morphologically unintegrated items known on external grounds to represent borrowings from a non-Greek dialect. (This last qualification is necessary if we are to include indeclinable but genuinely inherited items such as /káxe/ 'each'). Thus, /film/ 'strip of photographic film' (pi. /films/) is at such variance with normal morphological patterns as to be clearly foreign to Cypriot. /ccékkin/ (pl. /ccékka/) 'cheque' would, however, be accepted on the given criterion as being morphologically identical in behaviour to the large open class of neuter nouns which includes e.g. /psumin/ 'loaf' (pi. /psumyá/), /póin/ 'foot' (pl. /póGka/). Its synchronically aberrant stylistic variant, /ccék/ (pl. /ccéks/), which in fact was never observed by the author outside the towns, would be rejected. It may be added that these unintegrated foreign words are apparently uttered in full consciousness of their foreign character and usually for specific effects. Thus the obscene curse /assiktir/ would seem to be used in preference to its Greek equivalent /yamó se/ precisely because, as a Turkish word, it lacks the full semanticity of the mother-tongue term. It may be noted that morphologically unintegrated items (e.g. /permanât/ 'permanent wave') may require the use of individual sounds which do not occur in inherited items but there seem to be no individual sounds within integrated items which do not occur in inherited words. However there are certainly phonotactic peculiarities exhibited by borrowings; the / k y of /ccékkin/, for instance, does not occur in dialectal forms of inherited words (although it is found in standard pronunciations such as /kólckinos/ 'red', c.f. dialectal /kóccinos/).2 For items belonging to those major grammatical classes whose inherited elements are uninfected, only external criteria of foreign origin are possible unless a limited degree of circularity is acceptable (/xic/ 'nothing' being rejected because of final consonant ?). There are in fact not many such instances and those that exist conform in most cases to normal patterns. For example, /pérki/ (Tk. bélki) 'perhaps' has the cluster of /arki/ 'beginning' and /misimu/ 'supposedly' (Tk. /mis/ 'suifix of qualified assertion') and is normal in every respect. The second limitation of a stylistic nature (2) is that words belonging to the archaizing written dialect (katharévusa) or to standard demotic are excluded if they denote recent 2

In particular, clusters with initial /§/ are of Turkish origin (see items listed in 1.2.2.) Similarly those with initial /!/ are either foreign (/paltón/, /kólpon/ Italian), or learned.

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

21

cultural innovations (e.g. /tileórasis/ 'television') or are consciously recognized as elevated variants of normal forms (cognate or synonymous). As examples of the latter we take /pémpti/ 'Thursday', /paraskevi/ 'Friday', /kiriaki/ 'Sunday' as used by a village speaker who also uses the cognates /péfti/, /parassefkí/, /cerkací/, or /kóta/ 'hen', /ayeláSa/ 'cow', /yurúna/ 'sow' as occasional replacements for the noncognate synonyms /órnixa/, /katsélla/, /lòtta/. Such alternants are invariably recognized as belonging to /elliniká/ (a term often used by less educated speakers for any variety of non-Cypriot Greek) and, in the case of many speakers, may be heard only under clearly special circumstances, e.g., a recitation of material learned at school or a discussion concerned specifically with the differences between Cypriot and 'Greek'. There are, of course, borderline cases: /patéras/ 'father' is certainly felt to be less colloquial than /papás/, and the latter is felt to be less colloquial than /ciris/, but all three are in common use, and it is likely that most speakers make a consistent choice. The feature of Cypriot Greek which speakers regard as most characteristic of their dialect is the use of /c/ for standard /k/ before front vowels; one often hears remarks such as /milá me to cé/ 'he speaks with /ce/' (/Jçe/ 'and' being standard - although not, as most Cypriots think, universal outside Cyprus). There is however no question but that many items with ¡ \ ¡ are to be treated as belonging to perfectly genuine dialect. For while it is true that fluctuation occurs with many items (e.g., /kinó/ ~ /einó/ Ί set out') which is indubitably stylistic in character and justifies us in rejecting the /k/ forms from consideration as specimens of /xorkátika/, there are two important sets of items with /lj/ which must clearly be included in our data. They are (1) the words which have a /k/ pronunciation only, such as /filaci/ 'prison', /ljiSia/ 'funeral', and (for most speakers) /kipros/ 'Cyprus' and (2) the words which form /!k/ members of 'dialectal doublets' with a form-meaning correlation. Thus, while /ciris/ 'father' is indubitably a dialectal form of /^cirios/ from the historical point of view, the latter word is in everyday use in the sense 'Mr.' and 'Lord', and is considered, as far as surface phonology is concerned, to be as bona fide an example of Cypriot Greek as /ciris/. Only the generative outlook developed later enables us to handle such relationships in a fairly simple way (see in particular 5.2.). The dialect of Cypriot Greek described in the body of the present study forms the basis of a 'local koiné', heard commonly, especially on the lips of younger speakers, in villages whose indigenous dialect may differ in various respects from it. Observation has also shown that this dialect forms the basis for the language used by Cypriot communities in Britain and South Africa, although these latter groups tend in varying degrees to compromise in the direction of Standard Demotic. The fact that the data on which the present work is based were gathered in Cyprus itself means that the dangers attendant on the use of émigré speech are absent, but, on the other hand, information provided in the field even by illiterate speakers, particularly under the artificial conditions imposed by questionnaire administration, tends to show standardizing influence, and informant reports and personal observation sometimes conflicted. The tape-recorded texts which were used to sup-

22

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

plement questionnaire responses, and which were the main source of intonation analysis, would appear in many cases to represent a somewhat stilted and lento variety of speech characterized by maximum exploitation of the language's signalling potential. Nevertheless informants were most cooperative and eager to help and in general had a remarkably clear conception of the intention of the sort of survey being attempted although the experience was a complete novelty for them.

1.1. THE SEGMENTAL PHONEMES 1.1.0.

Introductory

In order to account for the phonological structure of the Cypriot Greek utterance, cognizance must be taken not only of the overt phonetic forms but also of the underlying rules and abstract structures which enable the speaker to realize his utterances in the way he does (whether or not he is conscious of them or possesses a cerebral circuitry isomorphic to them). The present section describes the sound units in terms of which the speaker's output can be most conveniently and economically described. They provide the minimum number of symbols required for a 'reading transcription' and correspond to the traditional 'segmental phonemes', except for the acceptance of two cases of complete overlap (/'ts/ = /cc/ and /z/, /z/ = /zz/, /zz/ respectively). 1.1.1. Phonemic

Inventory

The segmental phonemes found necessary for the unambiguous representation of the Cypriot Greek utterance are twenty-five in number and may be displayed as follows : Ρ f ν m i

t θ 0 η y

Γ

The obstruents form a symmetrical set whose members are specifiable in terms of five points of articulation (labial/ dental/ alveolar/ domai/ velar), two manners of articulation (stop/ fiicative) and two voice states (voiceless/ voiced), which are however relevant only to fricatives. 1.1.2. Phonetic

Description

/p/. A bilabial stop. Voiced, unaspirated, lenis between /m/ or /z/ and a vowel or sonant; voiceless and fortis when geminate, the first occurrence then being unreleased,

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

23

the second having aspirated release; also voiceless, fortis and released as first member of heterogeneous obstruent cluster. In all other positions voiceless, unaspirated and quite lenis. /t/. A dental stop. Voiced, unaspirated, lenis between /n/ or /z/ and a vowel or sonant; voiceless and fortis when geminate, the first occurrence then being unreleased, the second having aspirated release; also voiceless, fortis and aspirated after /p/. In all other positions voiceless, unaspirated and quite lenis. /c/. An apico-post-alveolar affricate. Voiced, unaspirated, lenis after /n/ or /z/; voiceless and fortis when geminate, the first occurrence then being a post-alveolar stop, the second involving in its release strong fricativity and some aspiration. In all other positions voiceless, unaspirated and quite lenis. /}c/. A lamino-domal stop. Voiced, unaspirated, lenis after /m/ or /n/; voiceless and fortis when geminate, the first occurrence then being unreleased, the second having aspirated release; also voiceless, fortis and aspirated after /p/. In all other positions voiceless, unaspirated and quite lenis. /k/. A velar stop. Voiced, unaspirated, lenis between /n/ or /z/ and a vowel or sonant; voiceless and fortis when geminate, the first occurrence then being unreleased, the second having aspirated release. In all other positions voiceless, unaspirated and quite lenis.3 /f/. A labio-dental, voiceless, slit fricative, fairly fortis when geminate or after /r/. /Θ/. An apico-dental, voiceless, slit fricative, fairly fortis when geminate, /s/. An apico- alveolar, voiceless, rill fricative, fairly fortis when geminate or after a stop. /§/. An apico-domal, voiceless, rill fricative, fairly fortis when geminate or after a stop. /x/. A voiceless fricative, dorso-velar when member of a cluster (including geminate cluster), glottal when intervocalic or utterance-initial before vowel. Many speakers other than those who replace standard /Θ/ by /x/ realize /x/ consistently with oral friction as in standard Greek (palatal before front vowels, elsewhere velar). See 4.1.5. /ν/. A labio-dental, voiced, slit fricative. /Θ/. An apico-dental, voiced, slit fricative. /z/. An apico-alveolar, voiced, rill fricative; long intervocalically. /z/. An apico-domal, voiced, rill fricative; long intervocalically. /γ/. A dorso-velar, voiced, slit fricative. /m/. A bilabial voiced nasal. Utterance-initially before a stop it may be barely perceptible or represented merely by voicing of the stop. Somewhat long before /y/. /n/. A voiced nasal, velar before /k/, palatal before /k/, otherwise apico-dental. 3

If we leave out of account certain clusters such as /mpt/ and /mps/, which are characteristic of standardizing pronunciations, we may state the voicing rule for Cypriot stops in a quite simple manner: stops are voiced after nasals and voiced fricatives. This applies to all dialects (see 1.1.3.4, p. 27.).

24

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

Utterance-initially before a stop it may be barely perceptible or realized merely by voicing of the stop. Somewhat long before /y/. /r/. An alveolar, voiced flap or trill. /I/. A voiced alveolar lateral, somewhat palatalized and long before /y/. /y/. An apico-post-alveolar voiced semivowel. /i/. A high front tense vowel accompanied by lip spreading. /e/. A mid front lax vowel accompanied by moderate lip spreading. /a/. A low central lax vowel accompanied by neutral lip position. lo/. A mid back lax vowel accompanied by moderate lip rounding. /u/. A high back tense vowel accompanied by lip rounding. 1.1.3. Problems in Contrast

Establishment

The present section deals with such cases of partial complementation as are likely to provoke queries concerning the validity of the contrastive network on which the present phonemic analysis is based. 1.1.3.0. /*, k, kj Reference was made above to the stylistic aspects of the occurrence of /c/ and /If/ in Cypriot words and it was suggested that /k/ before front vowels was characteristic of standardizing renditions. This is true in general of the simple consonant but as the second element of certain clusters there is contrast in indisputably dialectal forms. The picture is further complicated in that while simple /k/ is confined to position before front vowels, /k/, whether simple or as cluster component, never occurs before front vowel. Table I displays the distributional facts relevant to the phonemic status of these stops. A set of items is now provided, illustrating the conditions in which contrasts are possible: /camé/ 'there': /káme/ 'do!' /taffcá/ 'the ears': /tafká/ 'the eggs' /kkáska/ 'worries': /máska/ 'mask' /anéá/ 'crockery': /yán^a/ 'gloves': /pánka/ 'bank' /xarcá/ 'pots': /xarká/ 'cards': /arká/ 'late' /ciris/ 'father': /kirios/ 'Mr.' /péfci/ 'pines': /3uléflp/ 'he works' /anánci/ 'need': /sfánki/ 'he slaughters' /xarcin/ 'pot' : /arki/ 'he is late' Even if we rejected items such as /Icirios/, or relegated them to a coexistent system, there are still cases in true dialect of / y before a front vowel. In particular it occurs frequently in that position (in morphophonemic alternation with /k/) as the final consonant of verb stems (/e3uléfkete/ 'you were working', /ésfanken/ 'he was

25

SURFACE PHONOLOGY TABLE 1

The Distribution

Environment

[C]

[ï] -H

of [c], [ I f ] and

[k]

[U

+

IpI-

+

/f//Θ//»//s //m//n//r/-

+ + +

[?]/P//f//Θ/-

M

+ +

+ + _L +

+

N -

AVIml-

/n/M-

+

+

+ +

slaughtering' may be added to the above data); /k/ occurs before back ones: /ouléfko/ Ί work', /3uléfkusin/ 'they work', /e3úlefka/ Ί was working'. Furthermore analogous phonologically conditioned alternation is normal within certain verbal suffixes: /esikóstika/ Ί got up': /esikóstikes/ 'you got up' (~/esikóstis/). Finally, words with /rx/, or /ry/ before a front vowel in standard speech have /rk/ in Cypriot (/arki/ above corresponds to standard /aryí/; /arki/ 'beginning' to /arxi/).4 Before back vowels /jj/ occurs commonly as the second member of the clusters /pk/, /fk/, /0k/, /sjc/ in the paradigms of an important sub-class of neuter nouns and before a common nominalizing suffix (/árostos/ 'ill', /aróska/ 'illness'); it will be observed that /sk/ and /fk/ also occur before back vowels. Simple /c/ and /k/ contrast before back vowels. An economical solution based on the recognition of two partially overlapping phonemes is however ruled out by the three-way contrast which may be implemented 4

/fif/ and /Θ1i/ before a front vowel would seem to correspond, outside the verb system, to standard /vy/ and /0y/. Thus /afki/ 'dawn' (standard /avyí/), /0ké/ 'uncle!' (standard /0yé/).

26

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

when /r/ or /n/ precedes. The postulation of three contrasting phonemes, /k/, /k/ and /c/, therefore seems unavoidable. It may be added that geminate clusters of all three phonemes occur before back vowels: /fakká/ 'he knocks', /paccá/ 'trotters', /ccakká/ 'pen-knives'. And, any solution which effected an economy in inventory would introduce complications into a statement of gsminate distribution. If, for instance, we accepted a simultaneous component analysis, which treated [k] as /ky/, it would no longer be possible to state that geminates occurred within words only initially before vowels and intervocalically (see 1.2.2.). 1.1.3.1. ¡9, x/ Contrast is easily established between dental and velar voiceless fricatives for speakers of varieties of Cypriot Greek less extreme than the one here under description. Thus the urbanité will normally have e.g. /epéGanen/ 'he died' and /éxasen/ 'he lost'. Village speech, however, normally replaces standard /Θ/ by /x/ (/epéxanen/, etc.), so that proof of contrast depends on the very small number of items which are apparently always pronounced with /Θ/ (e.g. /0eós/ 'God'). If we accept /0áros/ 'courage' as a bona fide item of dialect vocabulary it forms a minimum pair with /xáros/ 'death'. An acceptable alternative would be to base our contrast on the fact that while some items such as the one last cited always have /x/, others display fluctuation between this and /Θ/; thus [órnixa] 'hen' would be written /órni0a/ on the grounds that /Θ/ occurs in occasional realizations. 1.1.3.2. jx, Sj Within inflectional paradigms /x/ and /§/ alternate according as the following vowel is back or front: /ixa/ Ί had': /ises/ 'you had'; /tixos/ 'wall': /tisi/ 'walls'. Elsewhere, however, contrast occurs before both back and front vowels. Compare /sálin/ 'shawl': /xálin/ 'state'; /sónin/ 'snow': /xóman/ 'soil'; /xéros/ 'harvest': /sérin/ 'hand'; /stixi/ 'breasts': /tisi/ 'walls'. Before front vowels /x/ is, however, almost but not completely confined to the set of items mentioned in the previous paragraph which have alternative forms with /Θ/ (see also 4.1.5.). 1.1.3.3. ¡i, y! [y] does not occur before a consonant or word boundary and cannot follow any consonant other than /m/, /n/ or /l/. [i] has no such distributional restrictions and in fact occurs as the sole constituent of two words (the fem. sing. nom. of the definite article, and a member of the paradigm of /xoró/ Ί see', c.f. /na i/ 'let him see'). Within words contrast is therefore possible only initially before a vowel, intervocalically, and between /m/, /n/ or /l/ and a vowel. For the latter position there is a subminimal pair /ciniá/ 'he hunts': /ssinyá/ 'ropes', and for word-initial position

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

27

compare /iés/ 'health' (acc. pi. as in /me tes iés/, a wish for good health) with /yé/ 'son!'. Contrast is easy to discover if we neglect word boundaries (which have no phonological correlates other than a phonotactic latitude in the elements which straddle them greater than occurs within words), /pú ía/ 'where did I see?' may be compared to /múya/ 'fly' and /i allí/ 'the other woman' to /yállinos/ 'of glass'. 1.1.3.4. Voicing Neutralization

in Stops

The statements made in 1.1.2. respecting the voicing of stops after nasals and /z/ are first illustrated : [kópos] 'trouble' : [kómbos] 'knot' [óti] 'that' : [Sóndin] 'tooth' [ácapas] 'perhaps' : [anjá] 'crockery' [aróska] 'illness' : [3ójiga] 'teeth' [sika] 'figs' : [púqga] 'pocket' Similarly, voicing occurs when a stop-initial word is preceded by one with final nasal : [okópos] 'the trouble' (nom.), but [toqgópon] (acc.). Conversely utterance-medially voiced stops are always preceded by a nasal or /z/. The only argument for recognizing distinctive voicing in the stops lies in the existence of a few words which in utteranceinitial position have a voiced stop unaccompanied by a phonetically realised conditioning environment. The data contain only [bénno] Ί enter', [boro] Ί can', [bakkira] 'piastre', fdropi] 'shame', [dópios] 'local inhabitant', [dáma] 'dance-partner', [dinno] Ί dress', [jizo] Ί touch'. Within intonation groups forms of these words may be preceded by a word which in isolation has final vowel, /s/, or /η/. (1) In the first case the complementarity described above is preserved through the introduction of a homorganic nasal: [na] + [bó] [nambó] 'let me come in'; [an] + [ta] + Ijísis] —> [andanjisis] 'if you touch them'. In the case of the verbs, the prefixation of the past tense marker /e/ - ('augment') has the same effect: [énjisa] Ί touched'. Compare also the imperative forms of [bénno] : [émba], [embate]. By prefixing the article /i/ to [dáma], we obtain [indáma], which may be contrasted with [itáma], the articulated form of [táma] 'checkers'. (2) A preceding morphophonemic /s/ results in a cluster realized as /z/ + voiced stop. Thus, [tus] + [dópius] —*• [tuzdópius] 'the local inhabitants' (acc.); [as] + [jisi]—>- [azjisi] 'let him touch'. (3) Finally, a preceding morphophonemic /n/ remains (assimilated in respect of point of articulation): [tin] + [dáman] - > [tindáman] 'the dancing partner' ( = [tin] + [táman] 'the checkers'). In the case of the verbs, while the same pattern is possible ([an] + [borís] - > [amboris] 'if you can'), it is usual for a prothetic /i/ to be inserted ([animboris], see 3.2.6.). It is therefore only after silence (or intonation) that a contrast is possible between voiced and voiceless stops: [boió] Ί can!' ví. [pono] 'it's hurting me!'. Even in this position, however, prenasalization seems not uncommon, particularly in slow enunciation. When this does not occur there is still no constrast between voiced stop onset and one with nasal + voiced stop and we therefore regard utterance-initial

28

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

voiced stops as realizations of /mp/, /nt/ or /ηδ/ (word-initial /nk/ and /nk/ do not occur in the data). It may be noted that the considerable number of Athenian words with initial /b/, /d/ or /g/, which represent foreign borrowings, (mostly from Turkish and Italian) usually have Cypriot counterparts with /p/, /t/ or /k/. Thus, /parpéris/ 'barber', /par/ 'bar', /právo/ 'bravo', /pányo/ 'bath', /pólikos/ 'plenty' ( < Tk. όο/), /térti/ 'pain' (Tk. í/erí). Both Athenian /babás/ 'daddy' and /papás/ 'priest' appear in Cypriot as /papás/. It is finally interesting to note that Cypriot learners of French (and even English, where aspiration affords an important clue) have considerable difficulty in perceiving and producing the essential voicing contrasts within the stops. For Cypriot dialects other than the one at present under description, the above remarks apply, with the exception that the environment specifications for voicing must be extended to cover any preceding voiced fricative (both within and across word boundaries). Thus, where Mesarká has [kluflcá] 'cages', [vúBka] 'oxen', [skáfto] Ί dig', western Cyprus may have [kluvgá], [vúcga], [zgáfto].

1.2. DISTRIBUTION OF SEGMENTAL PHONEMES

The combinations into which the above segmental phonemes enter within the utterance are now described. 1.2.0. Single Consonants All the twenty consonant phonemes of Cypriot Greek occur utterance-initially and intervocalically within the utterance, the only restrictions being that /k/ and /γ/ never occur before front vowels, /s/ and /n/ are the only consonants which occur normally in utterance-final position (in which case they are postvocalic). The exceptions noted included exclamations such as /áx/, /úf/ and certain stop-final echoic forms which, although amenable to analysis in terms of phonemic sequences are often so aberrant in certain phonetic respects, notably in the extreme shortness of their vowels, that they are not considered relevant to a description of the normal phonological system. Typical are /srak/ (used for cracking noises), and /ttúp/, /tták/, used for falling and slapping respectively. Unintegrated foreign terms, such as /par/ 'bar', are excluded from consideration, although this item is in common use in the towns, as is /siór/ 'Sir!' (usually with facetious connotation). Word-finally within intonation-groups, in addition to /s/ and /n/, all consonant phonemes other than stops may occur (e.g. /iem me/ 'he saw me' /ti6 3eftéran/ 'on Monday'). 1.2.1. Heterogeneous Two-Consonant Clusters The heterogeneous two-consonant clusters observed in the data are displayed in Table 2. Clusters which occur only across word boundaries (when morphophonemic

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

29

TABLE 2

Heterogeneous

Ρ

t

P t e k k

pt

f θ s S χ

ft sp äp

st St xt

ί

k

k

f

θ

Pk

fò

fk ök *sd sk

Two- Consonant

s

s

ps ts ks

X

9

Clusters η

1

r

PS t§

ρη

Pl

ΡΤ tr

ks

k m kn kl

kr

V

ζ

ζ

γ

m

fk

sk §k

(fn) (fl) (fr)

sf

*s9

(ΘΓ)

*sx

äm

ν 8 Ζ

(xn) (xl) (xr)

vn * z p *zt *z£

ZV

ί y m η 1 r y

mp lp rp

nt lt rt

rk

rk

*zô

*ζγ

zm *zn

*zl

vr Sr * z r *zy

ym γη

ri

γτ

vl

mn

mk ne nk nk

rè

y

rf

rs

lx

my

LM

rv

rm

rn

rl

ny iy

final /s/ is brought into contact with a following /c θ χ 3 γ η 1 r y/) are asterisked, /zp/, /zt/ and /zc/ occur at word boundaries as a result of the morphophonemic rule mentioned in 1.1.3.4. which replaces /s/ + nasal + stop by /z/ + (voiced) stop. Certain others consisting of voice less fricative + liquid or nasal are included in parentheses on the ground that, although they are certainly heard in the speech of unsophisticated villagers, they occur only in fluctuation with clusters in which the fricative is voiced. Thus /fr/ is heard in /frin/ 'brow', /afrós/ 'foam' but /vrín/, /avrós/ are much commoner. The class of words in which sequences of voiced fricative + /l/ or /r/ occur consistently (e.g. /vrési/ 'it rains', /vrisi/ 'fountain') are quite distinct and a good case could be made for the representation of the fluctuating class with voiceless fricatives, it being understood that actual realizations were normally voiced. Within the general 'taxonomic' framework of the present chapter, however, we do not do this (see however 5.5.).

30

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

The permissible two-consonant clusters fall into twelve general types; Table 3 summarizes the numbers of different clusters within each of these general types, bracketed and asterisked sequences being left out of consideration. TABLE 3

The Twelve General Types of Permissible Two-Consonant

Stops

Stops Voiceless fricatives Voiced fricatives Sonants

Voiceless Fricatives

2 13 —

13

6 1 —

3

Voiced Fricatives

_ —

1 1

Clusters

Sonants

8 1 9 8

From these data there emerge apparent prohibitions against sequences of two fricatives (except for /sf/ and /zv/) and of stop and voiced fricative (in either order). Moreover, while each major cluster type represents a possible total of 25 specific clusters, the numbers actually found within each category vary from 1 to 13. This raises a question as to the systematicity of the gaps which occur, but this can be reasonably discussed only in relation to the morphophonemic rules developed later; these rules have the effect of replacing certain sequences of phonemes by others. It is plausible to assume that a non-occurrent cluster which enjoys only transitory status in the generation of an utterance represents a systematic gap while one which is not replaced by rule is accidentally missing. The two-consonant clusters of Table 2 are now listed with, in each case, exemplifications of their occurrence.5 The clusters which occur within words all occur medially; those which occur initially as well are illustrated for both positions. Word boundaries are marked by space, although this has no phonological significance, /pt/ /leptá/ 'minutes'; this is the normal form, although /leftá/ may be heard in this sense (as always in the sense 'money')· /pk/ /pkánno/ Ί take'; /ipjça/ Ί drank' /ps/ /psumin/ 'bread'; /epsés/ 'last night' /ρδ/ /anepsós/ 'cousin' /pn/ /pnásso/ Ί rest' ; /epníin/ 'he drowned' /pi/ /plinnisko/ Ί wash'; /apios/ 'simple' Konsultation of informants failed to confirm the statement of Menardos (1894, p. 153) that [dz] occurs in a few words. Of the four cited by him, the names [frandzis] and [frandzeskú] were said to be non-Cypriot (and the first cited as [franjis]); [dzanin] 'jaundice' was known as [zanín]; [dzára] 'jar' was unknown. The statement made in Newton (1967) that /si/, /sr/ occur across word boundaries is now replaced. Most people, but not all, seem to voice final /s/ before word-initial liquids.

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

/pr/ /prótos/ 'first'; /kopriá/ 'manure' /ts/ /tsúros/ 'goat'; /mitsis/ 'small' /ts/ /tsái/ 'tea'; /papútsa/ 'shoes' /tr/ /tría/ 'three'; /áletron/ 'plough' /ks/ /ksilon/ 'wood'; /áksippa/ 'suddenly' /ks/ /ksi/ 'he scrapes'; /amáksa/ 'carts' /km/ /lokmáes/ 'fritters' /kn/ /knizin/ 'bunch'; /pikniin/ 'freckles' /kl/ /klónos/ 'branch'; /oikla/ 'look!' /kr/ /krónnume/ Ί listen'; /pikrós/ 'bitter' /ft/ /ftánno/ Ί arrive' ; /eftomá/ 'week' /fe/ /ófceros/ 'empty' / f y /flcénno/ Ί come out'; /rifka/ 'kids' /fk/ /fkállo/ Ί take out'; /afká/ 'eggs' /fn/ /fnúin/ 'small of back' /vnúin/); /3áfni/ 'laurel' (~/3ávni/) /fi/ /fléa/ 'vein' (~/vléa/); /túfla/ 'bricks' (~/túvla/) /fr/ /fríkse/ 'shut up!' (~/vríkse/); /afrós/ 'foam' (~/avrós/) /efe/ /0ká/ 'aunt'; /ali01ca/ 'truth' /Gr/ /Grumpín/ 'thyme' (~/8rumpín/); /áGropos/ 'man, husband' (~/áoropos/) /sp/ /spítin/ 'house'; /láspes/ 'mud' /st/ /stuppín/ 'dead drunk'; /ísteris/ 'after' /sc/ /tus cerús ecínus/ 'in those days' /sii/ /s^éttos/ 'plain'; /vrísjci/ 'he finds' /sk/ /skarpáris/ 'shoemaker'; /máska/ 'mask' /sf/ /sfála/ 'close!'; /ésfaksen/ 'he slaughtered' /s0/ /tus Geús/ 'the gods' (acc.) /sx/ /tus xorús/ 'the dances' (acc.) /sp/ /respéris/ 'farmer' /st/ /sastlzo/ Ί am confused' /sk/ /áskossu/ 'how could you!' /sin/ /konusmás/ 'talk' /xt/ /xtérno/ Ί scratch'; /oxtó/ 'eight' /xn/ /pexniin/ 'game' (~/peyniin/) /xl/ /xlomós/ 'pale' (~/ylomós/); /xoxlázi/ 'it boils' (~/xoylázi/) /xr/ /xrónos/ 'year'; (~/yrónos/); /áxristos/ 'useless' (~/áyristos/) /vn/ N o example in data except as alternative to /fn/ /vi/ /vláfti/ 'it harms'; /avli/ 'yard' /vr/ /vrési/ 'it rains'; /mávros/ 'black' /3r/ /8róman/ 'sweat'; /komo3rómos/ 'blacksmith' /zp/ /tez pakkíres/ 'the piastres' (acc.) /zt/ /az tiOi/ 'let him get dressed' /ζδ/ /enna tuz òiso/ Ί shall touch them'

31

32

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

¡z\¡

/zvínni/ 'it's g o i n g o u t ' (fire); /cizvés/ 'coffee p a n '

/ζθ/

/ n a m a z 3 ó k i / 'let h i m give u s '

/ζγ/

/ t u z yárus/ 'the d o n k e y s ' (acc.)

/ z m / /zmila/ 'knitting n e e d l e ' ; / p l á z m a n / 'person' /zn/

/tiz nurás/ 'of the tail'

/zl/

/tiz l é f k a s / 'of L e f k a '

/zr/

/tez róes/ 'the grapes' (acc.)

/zy/

/ t u z y ú e s / 'the s o n s ' (acc.)

/ y m / /stiymi/ ' m o m e n t ' / γ η / / y n ó m i / ' o p i n i o n ; /Gkóyno/ Ί p u r s u e ' /γΐ/

/ y l ó s s a / ' t o n g u e ' ; /éylipsen/ 'he licked'

/yr/

/ y r á m m a n / 'letter' ; /éyrapsen/ 'he w r o t e '

/ m p / /mporó/ Ί can'; /pampácin/ 'cotton w o o l ' / m k / / k u m k á / 'buttons' / m n / / m n i m a n / 'grave'; / l á m n o / Ί g o ' / m y / / m y á l o s / 'big'; / p s u m y á / 'loaves' /nt/

/ n t i n n u m e / Ί get dressed' ; /inta/ 'what V

/nò/

/ n c í z o / Ί t o u c h ' ; / a n c á / 'crockery'

/ny

/ 8 ó n k a / 'teeth'

/ n k / / m a r a n k ó s / 'carpenter' /ny/ / n y á t a / ' y o u t h ' ; / e n y á / 'nine' /lp/

/ k ó l p o n / 'trick'

/It/

/palton/ 'coat'

/lx/

/Jckulxámpeis/ ' r o w d y '

/ l m / / a n á s t e l m a n / 'sun-rise' /ly/

/ l y ó n n i / 'it m e l t s ' ; /riálya/ ' m o n e y '

/rp/

/ o r p i z o / Ί expect'

/rt/

/rtónni/ 'he s u c c e e d s ' ; /irten/ 'he c a m e '

/rc/

/xarcin/ ' p o t '

/rk/

/karká/ 'stomach'

/rk/

/rká/ 'old w o m a n ' ; / x o r k ó n / 'village'

/rf/

/arfós/ 'brother'

/rs/

/farsi/ 'fluently'

/rv/

/pervólin/ 'garden'

/rm/ /kormin/ 'body' /rn/

/órnixa/ 'hen'

/rl/

/zorlis/ 'obstinate' 1.2.2. Geminate

Clusters

I n Cypriot Greek l o n g c o n s o n a n t s o c c u r word-initially b e f o r e v o w e l s a n d intervocalically in contrast t o short o n e s ; 6 t h e articulation o f l o n g obstruents is tenser 6

For a fairly complete list of items see Newton (1968).

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

33

than that of short ones and, in the case of stops, completely voiceless and accompanied by strong aspiration. They are here treated as geminates rather than as a special series of fortis consonants, or as clusters of simple consonants and a length feature (for which see Hamp, 1961). The following considerations are adduced in support of the geminate analysis : (1) The consonants which occur long within words also occur, except for /c/ and /k/ as the first member of heterogeneous two-consonant clusters, and, except for /Θ/, as the second member. (2) The allophonic behaviour characteristic of obstruents entering into geminate clusters is analogous to their behaviour in heterogeneous clusters in so far as geminate stop clusters show the aspiration characteristic of /pt/ and /pk/, and geminate voiceless fricative clusters are of a tenseness similar to that which occurs in clusters of stop + sibilant. (3) Their restriction within words to an initial position before a vowel and an intervocalic position is identical with that affecting heterogeneous clusters of the same manner except insofar as two sonants may be followed by /y/ intervocalically (and then only in fact before morpheme boundaries). (4) To posit a special series of consonants would give Cypriot Greek and the other Dodecanese dialects which possess contrastive consonant length almost twice as many consonant phonemes as are needed for other dialects; it seems preferable to reduce inter-dialectal differences to as low terms as possible. Of the twenty consonant phonemes, only /z/ and /z/ fail to show simple/geminate contrast. It is however most convenient to allow the possibility of the sequence /zz/ so that the consonantal segment arising when word-final /s/ or /n/ precedes initial /z/ may be split between the two words (e.g.,/tin/ + /zoin/ -*• /tiz zoln/ 'the life'. Phonetically, /z/ (=/zz/) is long when intervocalic within an utterance, otherwise short; Similarly for /z/ (although the recognition of /zz/ is perhaps unnecessary), /cc/ is recognized, although its phonetic realization is indistinguishable from that of /ts/, partly because to fail to do so would entail a unique restriction on stop gemination and partly because the (complete) overlap entailed allows a greatly simplified morphophonemic statement. Thus we may state that /kk/ is replaced by /cc/ in the same conditions (before front vowel) as /k/ is replaced by /c/ and that /ts/ is replaced by /ts/ in the same conditions (before /y/) as /s/ is replaced by /§/. The phonemes /θ, γ, y/ show length contrast only across word-boundaries. The other labial, dental and velar slit fricatives and /r/ show it word-medially and across-word boundaries. All the other phonemes show it word-medially, word-initially and, except for the stops, across word boundaries, although most speakers of the dialect under description regularly have /tt/ for the /ΘΘ/ of other dialects (see 4.1.3.). These categories are illustrated below : 1.2.2.0.

Consonants with simple/geminate contrast only across word boundaries:

34

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

(3/30) /i Séfteri/ 'the second girl' (nom.): /ti3 3éfterin/ (acc.) ("ihi) Io Yámos/ 'the wedding' (nom.): /toy yámon/ (acc.) (y/yy) /° yós/ 'the son' : /toy yón/ (acc.) 1.2.2.1.

Consonants with simple/geminate contrast word-medially and across word boundaries : (f/ff) /rifin/ 'kid' : /niffin/ 'bride' (acc.) /o filos/ 'the friend' : /tof filon/ (acc.) (Θ/ΘΘ) /máGima/ 'lesson' : /aná00ema/ 'damnation' (~/anáttema/) /o GeósI 'God' : /to0 Geón/ (acc.) (x/xx) /íxa/ Ί had' : /vixxas/ 'cough' /i xará/ 'the joy' : /tix xarán/ (acc.) (v/w) /anivénni/ 'he goes up' : /sivvénni/ 'it happens' /o vórtos/ 'the mule' : /tov vórton/ (acc.) (r/rr) /núru/ 'tail' (gen.) /múrru/ 'muttering' /o ráftis/ 'the tailor' : /tor ráftin/ (acc.) 1.2.2.2.

Consonants with simple/geminate contrast word-initially, and word-medially: (p/pp) /péfti/ 'Thursday' : /ppéfti/ 'he falls' /xapárin/ 'piece of news' : /appárin/ 'horse' (t/tt) /távla/ 'table' : /ttávlin/ 'backgammon' /túti/ 'this girl' : /mútti/ 'nose' (c/cc) /camé/ 'there' : /ccáin/ 'tea' /vracin/ 'bloomers' : /saccin/ 'sack' (jc/kk) /kiria/ 'Mrs.' : /kkirás/ 'rent' /plélçi/ 'she knits' : /purék^in/ 'cake' (k/kk) /kullúrka/ 'rolls' : /kkuláfka/ 'flattery' /kaká/ 'wicked' : /kakká/ 'faeces' (nursery word) 1.2.2.3.

Consonants with simple/geminate contrast word-initially, word-medially, and across word boundaries : (s/ss) /sokácin/ 'alley' : /ssocúme/ Ί am vexed' /pòsa/ 'how many' : /ylossa/ 'tongue' /i sópa/ 'the stove' : /tis sópan/ (acc.) (s/ss) /sili/ 'lips' : /ssilli/ 'dogs' /isa/ 'straight on' : /melissa/ 'swarms' /ta sérka/ 'the hands' : /tos serkón/ 'of the hands'

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

35

(m/mm) /máOka/ 'coats' : /mma0ka/ 'eyes' /3óman/ 'roof' : /kómman/ 'party' /o máos/ 'the magician' : /torn máon/ (acc.) (n/nn) /ná/ 'there!' : /nné/ 'yes' /éna/ 'one' : /enna/ 'particle of futurity' /i nurá/ 'the tail' : /tin nurán/ (acc.) (1/11) /lira/ 'a pound' : /Ilia/ 'a few' /évalen/ 'he put' : /évallen/ 'he was putting' /i lánta/ 'the puddle' : /til lántan/ (acc.) 1.2.3. Three-Consonant

Clusters

Word-initial three-member clusters consist of /s/ + stop + liquid. If we exclude from the theoretical possibilities those which would involve occurrences within three-member clusters of sequences of stop + liquid which do not occur independently we are left with /spr, str, skr, spi, ski/ and all of these are found. There also occurs /yly/ in a single word. Illustrations are as follows: /spr/ /str/ /skr/ /spi/ /ski/ /yly/

/spróxno/ Ί push' (but this is somewhat elevated for /kuntó/) /straós/ 'blind', /stréfume/ Ί turn back' /skrófa/ 'slut' /splínka/ 'pin' /sklerós/ 'hard' /ylyázo/ Ί slip'

Word-medially (1) four of these same clusters can be documented, as can in addition (2) all sequences of nasal + stop + liquid such that their first and second elements and their second and third elements occur as independent two-member clusters (i.e., /mpl, mpr, ntr, nkl, nkr/) and (3) certain clusters with /y/ as third member such that the second member precedes /y/ in independent two-member clusters (i.e., it is /m/, /n/ or /I/) and the first and second members occur independently in two-member clusters. Of a total of 17 three-member clusters fulfilling the latter condition, only five, in addition to /yly/, actually occur in the data. These three categories are now illustrated: (1) /spr/ /str/ /skiI /yly/ (2) /mpl/ /mpr/ /ntr/ /nkl/ /nkr/

/áspros/ 'white' /mástros/ 'boss' /asklaníxocas/ 'Nasreddin Hoja' (hero of Turkish folk tales) /éylyasen/ 'he slipped' /ampléo/ Ί swim' /yamprós/ 'bridegroom' /ántras/ 'man' /strinkla/ 'witch' /ankrizume/ Ί am annoyed'

36 (3) /rmy/ /pny/ /kny/ /mny/ /rny/

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

/kormyá/ 'bodies' /kapnyá/ 'smoke' /oknyáris/ 'lazy' /stamnyá/ 'jars' /arnyúme/ Ί deny'

The clusters in this category for which illustrations are not available are /kmy, smy, zmy, ymy, lmy, vny, yny, ply, kly, vly, rly/.7 In addition to the clusters listed above, /skn/ occurs in the single item /isknáfin/ 'trade' and various others are found in words of non-dialectal character. Thus, /mpt/ occurs in /pémpti/ 'Thursday', a standardizing rendition of /péfti/;also in the word meaning 'fifth' (as in /pémpti táksi/ 'fifth class'), in which case it would seem to be a borrowing from the standard language. In addition to the above three-member clusters, certain others are found across word boundaries only. (1) /s/ may precede any of the word-initial heterogeneous two-member clusters whose first member is a stop or voiceless fricative: e.g. /tus xtístes/ 'the builders', /tus pséftes/ 'the liars' (acc.). (2) /z/ may precede any of the word-initial heterogeneous two-member clusters whose first member is a voiced fricative or a sonant: e.g. /tiz mnimis/ 'of the memory', /tez myáles/ 'the big girls' (acc.). (3) /m/ may precede any of the word-initial heterogeneous two-member clusters whose first member is /p/ and second a sonant : e.g., /tim pnoin/ 'the breath'. (4) /n/ may precede any of the word-initial heterogeneous two-member clusters whose first member is /k/ or /t/ and second a sonant : e.g., /ton knizón/ 'of the bunches'. (5) /s/ may precede a geminate stop: e.g., /tus ttempélies/ 'the lazy ones' (acc.). Some speakers also have, across word boundaries, three-or four-member clusters with initial geminate arising from the doubling of the initial fricative or sonant of such word-initial clusters as these have as first member: e.g., /to3 Srómon/ 'the road' (acc.). They also have sequences of nasal + stop + sibilant, the nasal homorganic with the stop: e.g., /torn pséftin/ 'the liar' (pronounced [tompséftin], see 1.1.2.). Finally, sequences of nasal + geminate stop may be heard in this type of pronunciation: e.g., /ton ttempélin/ 'the lazy one' (acc.). However, such sequences are normally avoided in natural speech and the above items would tend to be replaced by /to Srómon/, /to pséftin/ and /to ttempélin/. Word-initial geminates other than those consisting of stops are very rare, and no reliable information could be gained concerning the possibility of sequences in which a word-final sibilant precedes these. 7

Informants are not sure whether /m/ occurs before word-initial /pk/ (as it would in a genitive plural /torn peatón/ 'of the plates' ; if it does, it is uncertain whether / m y or /mplj/ would represent the better analysis. One informant (N.N.) claimed that the plural of /ttávlin/ 'backgammon' would be /ttávlya/ and have the sense 'backgammon sets', although she was uncertain whether it actually occurred.

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

37

1.2.4. Vowels All the five vowel phonemes occur both word-initially and word-finally; they also occur word-medially flanked by consonants. The only restriction is that /I/ and /e/ cannot follow /k/ or /γ/ (see 1.2.0.). Word-initially, word-medially and word-finally, they enter into two-membtr clusters. All the twenty-five theoretically possible sequences occur in at least one of the three positions. The following list exemplifies these sequences : /io/ /rió/ 'I'm cold' /aa/ /aapá/ 'he loves' /iu/ /riúmen/ 'we are cold' /ae/ /paénno/ Ί go' /oa/ /róa/ 'grape' /ai/ /lain/ 'oil' /oe/ /foerós/ 'terrible' /ao/ /káos/ 'pail' /au/ /káuras/ 'crab' /oi/ /póin/ 'foot' ¡oo/ /lóos/ 'speech' /ea/ /vléa/ 'vein' /ou/ /foúme/ 'I'm afraid' /ee/ /leénin/ 'basin' /ua/ /arfúa/ 'sister' /ex/ /einin/ 'he became' /ue/ /kuélla/ 'ewe' /eo/ /éoka/ Ί gave' /ui/ /vúin/ 'ox' /eu/ /0eú/ 'of God' /ia/ /epia/ Ί went' /uo/ /akúo/ Ί hear' /uu/ /akúumen/ 'we hear' (~/akúmen/) /ie/ /éfien/ 'he left' /ii/ /appiisen/ 'he leapt' Three-member clusters are also occasionally found within words (e.g., /traúin/ 'song', /kapnoúas/ 'chimney'), but no instance is documented for a sequence of three like vowels.

1.3. SUPRASEGMENTALS 8

There are three normal grades of phonemic stress in Cypriot Greek, weak, medium, and loud; in addition, an extra-loud stress occurs occasionally in certain conditions of emphasis. As there is normally only one occurrence of loud stress (the 'sentence stress') in any intonation group (segment bounded by two intonations or by pause and intonation), and as the word on which it falls tends to be a lexical item of relatively high information content, a natural method of symbolizing the three normal degrees of stress, and the one which will be adopted here and in the transcriptions of Chapter 7, is to use a single diacritic (') for medium and loud stress and to italicize the words on which loud stress falls. Weak stress will be left unmarked, and extra-loud stress 8

This section differs from the earlier account (Newton 1967) in that its recognition of a fourth intonation ('echoic') and its use of word boundary as a conditioning factor does away with the need for 'downstep juncture'. It will be understood that the intonational analysis offers a general framework based on the most frequent patterns observed in conversation and in the recorded texts and no attempt is made to handle the subtleties and variations introduced by 'emotional' and other factors. The illustrations are drawn almost entirely from recorded tapes.

38

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

represented by ". Stress will be written over the appropriate vowel symbol, although its phonetic correlates (see below) may extend over the preceding consonantal segment. Thus, in /o fíloz mu irten./ loud stress falls on the first syllable of the second word, medium stress on the first syllable of the last word. Other syllables bear weak stress. In addition there are four intonations, final (.), non-final (,), interrogative (?) and echoic (¿). In so far as the intonations are described in terms of pitch, which is thought to be non-distinctive, they are regarded as phonemically primitive; that they have independent and characteristic semantic and grammatical signalling potentiality implies that the intonations 'represent' morphemes (with meanings suggested by the labels used above). Thus, the word /nné/ 'yes' may occur as the sole morphemic material, apart from intonations, of four distinct utterances: ¡nné.¡ (definitely) ¡nné,I (qualified assent), /nné?/ ('go on' or 'what d'you want?'), /nné¿/ ('did you say yesT). The reasons for this treatment of intonation rather than one which would analyse it in terms of phonemic pitch levels are twofold : the defining attribute of the intonations of Cypriot Greek is (impressionistically) contour unbroken into à set of levels such that the precise interval between one level and another is felt to be of any significance; secondly, insofar as pitch may be shown to be a non-distinctive byproduct of stress throughout the greater part of the utterance, it seems simpler, when it cannot be so explicated, to treat it as a non-distinctive feature of suprasegmental elements other than stress. The basic objection, however, to a treatment of the intonational structure of the Cypriot Greek utterance in terms of an indeterminately variable sequence of levels, is that such an analysis is inherently incapable of accounting for the native speaker's linguistic competence in any simple manner. First stress is described as it operates in a segment terminated by final intonation; then the other intonations are described, so that they are regarded as involving perturbations in the stress-pitch correlations associated with segments closed by final intonation (which is thus thought of as 'neutral'). Intonations are located in the transcription of utterances immediately after the last point in the segmental material over which they operate. Mention of the 'pitch' of a 'stress' is to be taken as a shorthand way of referring to the pitch of the syllable on which the stress stands. 1.3.0. Stress Stress is the degree of loudness or intensity with which a syllable is perceived to be uttered, the syllable in Cypriot Greek being here defined as consisting of one vowel and any consonant or consonants immediately preceding it. For notational convenience the stress sign is placed over the vowel letter in the normal way although the onset of loudness or intensity associated with the stress may in fact be heard during the articulation of the consonantal segment which introduces the syllable. No evidence has been found to suggest that the point of stress onset within the syllable has any functional significance and it seems to be determined largely by the segmental constitution of the syllable margin. In particular sequences of stop + sibilant and

39

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

geminated stop and fricative clusters are articulated with greater intensity when they serve as the onset to a syllable bearing loud or extra-loud stress. Thus, the /ps/ of jpsârka/ 'fish' (pi.) is perceptibly more intense than that of /psarkú/, and the /pp/ of Ippéftil 'he falls' is articulated more energetically, and with stronger aspiration, than that of /éppestn/ 'he fell'. The loudness/ intensity component of stress is regarded as nuclear (distinctive) in that it may serve as the sole marker of stress in certain contexts. Thus, in ¡én epíen o arfós su./, all syllables after the first are pronounced on a low monotone but those marked by medium stress are perceived to be louder than those with weak stress. However, it is normally possible to perceive secondary components of pitch and these are now described. 1.3.0.0. Vowel Length Open vowels are probably a little longer than close ones but on top of this, non-weak stress seems to have a slight lengthening effect on vowels, except when these are followed by two consonants or by intonation. Thus in ¡válepâle/ 'put it on again!' the first /a/ is heard to be slightly longer than the second.9 1.3.0.1. Pitch In order to describe the pitch phenomena correlated with stress, we assume a fourfold partition of the total pitch range associated with a given stretch of utterance such that four PITCH LEVELS may be recognized: 'low', 'mid', 'high', and 'extra-high'. An impressionistic estimate places 'mid' about a musical fourth above 'low', 'high' about a tone above 'mid', and 'extra-high' at least a tone higher still. Each stress, except for weak, is characteristically associated with one specific level, its INHERENT PITCH, and when it is actually at this pitch it is INHERENTLY PITCHED. The correlations are: Stress

extra-loud

loud

medium

weak

Pitch

extra-high

high

mid

neutral

The actual pitch of the syllables of an utterance with final intonation is determined by the following rules : (1) Non-weak stress is at inherent pitch unless it is preceded in the same intonation group by a stress of higher grade, in which case its pitch is low. (2) If the final syllable of an intonation group carries inherently pitched loud or extra-loud stress there is a rapid glide on it (from high and extra-high respectively) to low pitch. (3) Weak stress carries the pitch of the preceding syllable except that it is low after (a) intonation or silence (b) loud stress (c) (in slow speech) word boundary. 9

This lengthening is far less noticeable than in Athenian Greek and may vary regionally (e.g., it seems quite marked in the Asha area).

40

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

The four grades of stress and the rules governing their pitch are now illustrated. 1. Extra-loud stress. fën ton ía lalí mu./ "Ί didn't see him", says he.' [ " ] ¡mem

mu to pis pále./ 'don't tell me again.'

[ " /káme

òtti

xélis./ 'do whatever you want.'

[--"". J 2. Loud stress : Ixélo to./ Ί want it.'

_J

/pu to portion írten o á9ropos./ 'It was early in the morning the fellow came. ' [ . „ . ] 3. Medium stress : /o áSropos írtem pu to pornón.¡ 'The fellow came early in the morning.'

Λ]

[_ /epíen is tix

'He went to Nicosia.'

xóran.J

£

- - - -

_ J

or, more slowly,

¡kátse

yé mu./ 'sit down, son.'

4. Weak stress : xapárka./ 'what's the news?' [ " " . . . ]

/ïnta

/enna pámen na férumen tin kórin tu daughter. '

[..--. ---

dràku./

'we shall go and fetch the giant's

J

It may be noted that the rule which permits weak stress after word boundary to drop to low pitch offers a phonological means of delimiting words. The following pair of utterances represents a minimal pair for the acceptance of word boundary as a

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

41

conditioning factor (or, alternatively for the postulation of some sort of 'downstep juncture'): /írtamen ce pexanískis./ 'we came and you're dying. '

[ - - - . . .

" J

/irta men ce pexanískis./ Ί came in case you were dying. ' [

-

-

.

.

.

.

-

.

]

However, one characteristic distinguishing the style of speech here described from more rapid varieties is the less than full exploitation in the latter of the signalling potentiality of the fall in pitch which is otherwise associated with the end of a word concluded at mid or extra-high pitch. Thus in the material recorded the sequence /pkánni kati myález zmíles.l 'he takes some big needles' occurs twice, once with the pitch pattern and once with

1.3.1. Intonations Intonations are set up to account for the contrast between the stress-pitch correlations described in 1.3.1. and certain common and systematic types of departure from these. 1.3.1.0. Final Intonation Final intonation is realized negatively, i.e., by the absence of perturbations in those pitch phenomena correlated to stress placement which have been described. It is so termed as being the intonation which most commonly precedes pause. For illustrations see 1.3.0.1. 1.3.1.1. Non-Final Intonation Non-final intonation operates over that portion of the intonation group which follows the last non-weak stress and is characterized by a slight rise; when the last non-weak stress is the sentence stress this rise may be interrupted by a dip. It is the intonation which least commonly occurs before silence and is usually associated with a syntactically dependent utterance fraction or a question introduced by an interrogative word. This intonation is now illustrated : 1. The last non-weak stress is not the sentence stress : /sán to etiánizen ómos,/ 'as he was frying it however,'

42

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

¡efoíxiken tútos,/ 'he was afraid...,' [ _ _ " _ _ _ - ] Ipú ivres tun ta riálya,/ 'where did you find this money?' [ " 2. The last non-weak stress is the sentence stress: /sta vunáj 'on the mountains...' [ . /aapití xorkani,/ 'dear villagers...' [ _ _ _ - _ _ - ]

/tu dráku,/ 'of the giant...'

/o eiris tu,/ 'his father...'

1.3.1.2. Interrogative Intonation Interrogative intonation operates over the whole intonation group and is characterized by (a) low pitch on all syllables to precede the sentence stress and (b) a somewhat steep rise over any syllables following it. It is characteristic of questions of the 'yes-no' variety, of which it is the sole marker. /Oéliz na pámem mazín?/ 'shall we go together?' [ /pá ce kléftis ta?/ 'do you go and steal them?' [ . .

-

1.3.1.3. Echoic Intonation This operates over the whole intonation group and is characterized by (a) low pitch on all syllables to precede the sentence stress and (b) a drop thereafter to a pitch which is slightly lower and which is sustained to the end of the intonation group. It is quite rare, and confined to questions which echo the interlocutor's words in a surprised

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

43

or sarcastic manner; it is often associated with extra-loud stress. /líres¿/ 'pounds?'

/epíes me tiy yenéka tu yítu¿/ 'you went with the neighbour's wife ?'

[

-] 1.3.2. Distribution of Stress Within Intonation Groups

1.3.2.0. Every intonation group contains at least one loud or extra-loud stress, but not more than one of the latter and rarely more than one of the former. It is necessary to recognize multiple loud stress when weak stress immediately following inherently-pitched non-weak stress drops within words to lower pitch in more than one instance: Iísen énan antróinon,/ 'there were a man and his wife...'

fise énas,/ 'you're a (strange) one!'

In the material studied, this multiple occurrence of sentence stress was usually followed by non-final intonation and was confined to utterances delivered at unusually slow speed. 1.3.2.1. The last non-weak stress of an intonation group cannot occur earlier than fifth syllable from the end : /írtem manixós.¡ 'he came alone'

¡pé mu./ 'tell me'

¡dóm mu to./ 'give it me'

/ná ton ápparon tu./ 'there's his horse'

44

SURFACE PHONOLOGY

jéferem mu to./ 'he brought it me'

When the last non-weak stress is further back than the fourth syllable from the end there is at least one word boundary followed by an unstressed pronoun; when it is further back than the third syllable from the end the above is almost certainly the case again. However there are at least two verb forms with stress on the fourth syllable from the end. These are illustrated by /klépsumente/ 'let's steal' (p. 83.) and /érlcesastin/ 'you were coming' (the latter only in certain dialects). 1.3.2.2. Words normally do not have more than one stress. The exceptions are certain compound words in which at least two weak stresses separate the non-weak ones. In such cases if the word bears sentence stress it coincides with the second stress. In view of this rule it is possible to transcribe such words without differential stress indication : /en áSSimomúris.j 'he's ugly.'

/kólosirtós./ 'dragging himself along on his backside.'

When, however, these items do not bear sentence stress the stresses are perceived to be of equal intensity: /em pollá ássimomúris./ 'he's very ugly.'

/kólosirtós me ta sérka./ 'dragging himself along on his backside by means of his hands.' 10

10

Sceptical readers are referred to text 7.4.6 (3) for documentation.

2 THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

2.1. S P E C I M E N N O U N

PARADIGMS

2.1.0. Introductory The Cypriot Greek noun is inflected for number (singular/plural) and case (nominative/accusative/genitive); the nominal form is here understood to consist of a stem and one of six suffixes, no discussion being offered of the internal structure of such stems as are apparently polymorphemic. The usual grouping of Greek nouns into three genders is based on considerations of various types of syntactic agreement, but in the case of at least Cypriot Greek also corresponds in general to the classification naturally imposed by the phonological shapes of the nominative singular suffixes. Characteristic paradigms are first cited with a view to indicating the range of data for which the morphophonemic section attempts to account. 2.1.1. Masculine

Nouns

TABLE 4

Masculine singular

plural

Nouns singular

plural

'horse' nom. acc. gen.

ápparos ápparon appáru

appári appárus appárus 'pine tree'

'shepherd' nom. acc. gen.

voskós voskón voskú

voääi voskús voskús

péfkos péfkon péfku

péfôi péfkus péfkus

46

THE N O U N , ADJECTIVE A N D P R O N O U N

singular

singular

plural 'jacket'

nom. acc. gen.

sákkos sákkon sákku

'wall' sáCCi sákkus sákkus

tíxos tíxon tíxu

'villager' nom. acc. gen.

xorkanós xorkanón xorkanú

papás papan papá

xorkani xorkanús xorkanús

Simonas simónan simóna

pappús pappún pappu

simónes Simones Simónes

kafés kafén kafé

papáes papáes papáes 'grandfather'

'coffee' nom. acc. gen.

tl§i tixus tíxus 'father, priest'

'winter' nom. acc. gen.

plural

pappúes pappúes pappúes 'peddlar'

kafées ~ kafés kafées ~ kafés kafées ~ kafés

mántis mántin mánti

mánties mánties mánties

2.1.2. Feminine Nouns TABLE 5

Feminine singular

plural

Nouns singular

'hen' nom. acc. gen.

órnixa órnixan órnixas

'chair' órnixes órnixes órnixon

tsaéra tsaéran tsaéras

petterá petterán petterás

petteráes petteráes petteráon

tsaéres tsaéres tsaéron 'old woman'

'mother-in-law' nom. acc. gen.

plural

koáákari koCákarin ko£ákaris

koíákares koíákares koóákaron

THE N O U N , ADJECTIVE A N D

singular

singular

plural

yjellé kkellén î&ellé

plural 'cat'

'head' nom. acc. gen.

47

PRONOUN

kattú kattún kattús

Reliées ~ és ljkellées ~ és lflfelléon

2.1.3. Neuter

kattúes kattúes kattúon

Nouns

TABLE 6

Neuter singular

plural

Nouns singular 'sieve'

'fire' nom. acc. gen.

plural

lamprón lamprón lamprú

lamprá lamprá lamprón

kóssinon kóssinon kossínu

kóssina kóssina kossínon

'laughter' nom. acc. gen.

yélyon yélyon yelyú

yélya yélya yelyón 'trousers'

nom. acc. gen.

éóattálin ¿éattálin íáattalyú

'loaf' éóattálya ófiattálya dáattalyón

psumín psumín psumyú

'hand' nom. acc. gen.

Sérin Sérin serkú

'foot' iérka sérka serkón

'name' nom. acc. gen.

ónoman ónoman onomátu

psumyá psumyá psumyón

onómata onómata onomáton

póin póin po6Jfú

pó0ka pó6&a poSIfón

48

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

The neuter nouns with final -/in/, -/in/ display a considerable range of alternation. Forms with penultimately stressed nominatives have genitives with final stress (no cases of antipenultimate stress occuring in the data). Segmental alternation between the nominative-accusative singular form and the rest of the paradigm is quite complex and is further illustrated by citation of the nominative-accusative and genitive singulars of typical items : TABLE 7

Segmental Alternation Between Nominative-Accusative Singular and Genitive Singular nom.

gen.

meaning

nom.

gen.

meaning

/láin/ /karáin/ /arpáin/ /tiánin/ /stamnín/ /mantílin / /sentúíin/ /xaríín/ /vlaníín/ /kuíCín/ /stomásin/ /aSSín/ /xoráfin/

/Ia9!fú/ /karafjfú/ /arpayú/ /tianyú/ /stamnyú/ /mantilyú/ /sentudú/ /xarCú/ /vlanCú/ /kuCóú/ /stomaSú/ /aS§ú/ /xorafjfú/

'oil' 'boat' 'hook' 'frying-pan' 'jar' 'handkerchief' 'chest' 'pot' 'liver' 'bean' 'stomach' 'flask' 'field'

/aérfin/ /kaláxin/ /ankáttin/ /xáppin/ /kumpin/ /ammátin/ /puttín/ /ftín/ /kkástin/ /8óntin/ /xartín/ /nisín/ /vizín/

/aerfcú/ /kala9kú/ /anka9¡fú/ /xapfcú/ /kumkú/ /amma0kú/ /puGkú/

'sibling' 'basket' 'thorn' 'pill' 'button' 'eye' 'thigh* 'ear' 'worry' 'tooth' 'card' 'island' 'breast'

m/ /kkaskú/ /oonkú/ /xarkú/ /ni§ú/ /vizú/

2.1.4. Summary of Alternations It may be assumed that the data presented above are typical of nominal paradigmatic sets and that comparison of the nominative singular form of a new item with the data will normally lead to correct predictions of the paradigm; /psárin/ 'fish', for instance, could be (correctly) predicted on the basis of the identity of its final phonemes to those of /sérin/ 'hand' to have a genitive /psarkú/. The only area of indeterminacy is presented by nominatives in vowel + /in/. Other irregularities (cases in which information is required other than that provided by inspection of the nominative singular) are described in 2.2.5. In 'taxonomic' terms it may be noted that alternation involves stress and segmentals and may be summarized as follows : (1) Masculine and neuter nouns with antipenultimate stress in the nominative have stress-shifted stem allomorphs in the genitives singular and plural and, in the case of masculines in -/os/ in the nominative and accusative plural as well. Neuters in -/an/ have a threefold alternation (e.g. /ónoma/, /onómat/, /onomát/).

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

49

(2) Neuters in unstressed -/in/ or -/yon/ have genitives in which the ending is stressed. (3) The morphemes representing 'genitive singular' and the plural categories will, in the case of neuters in -/in/ and -/in/, exist in several allomorphs (unless an analysis is preferred in which the stem is made to bear the whole burden of alternation); thus, on one possible segmentation, the genitive singular morpheme could be claimed to have the allomorphs /ú/ (for stems in /z, s, c, s/), /ku/ (for stems in /r/), /yú/ (for stems in /m, n, 1/, /ku/ (for stems in /p, f, t, x/) and /fku ~ 0ku ~ yú/ (for vowel stems). (4) Various types of segmental alternation occur in the stem. Thus /z, s, t/ are replaced respectively by /z, s, 0/; certain geminates are reduced (e.g., /xapp/ ~ /xap/); second members of consonant clusters are lost (e.g., /aft/ ~ /af/).

2.2. N O U N MORPHOPHONEMICS

2.2.0. Introductory It is proposed now to attempt to account, in a fairly informal and tentative way, for the alternations observed in the paradigms presented in 2.1. by setting up (a) a unique underlying phonological form for each stem morpheme, (b) a set of underlying inflectional endings for each gender class (some of these endings possessing regular alternants conditioned by the underlying phonological form of the stem but not automatic outside the nominal system) and (c) a set of ordered rules which will operate on the underlying phonological forms of these stems and endings to generate the correct surface representation in terms of the 'reading transcription' described in Chapter 1. A vertical line is used to enclose phonological representations earlier in a derivation than the reading transcription and morpheme boundaries are indicated by + . Capital A, E, I, O, U represent underlying vowels of two-mora length, corresponding to the one-mora /a, e, i, o, u/ of the surface phonology. Stress may be assumed to be irrelevant unless explicitly referred to in the formulation of a rule. It is sometimes convenient, in the case of polymorphemic items, to distinguish the underlying form as it is before any phonological rule has operated on it (the 'morphophonemic' representation) and that which exists immediately after boundary deletion. Unless otherwise stated, 'underlying (phonological) form' will be used for the latter. 2.2.1. Underlying Phonological Forms of Stems

The stems of all the nouns cited in 2.1. are listed: |ápparo|, |voskó|, |péfko|, |sákko[, |tíxo|, |xorkanó|, |papá), |ximóna|, |pappú|, |kafé|, |mánti|, |órni0a|, |tsaéra|, |pe00erá|, |kocákari|, lkkellé|, |kattú|, |lampró|, |kóskino|, |yélio|, |tsattáli|, |psumí|, |xéri|, |pó3i|, |ónomat|, |lá3i|, |karávi|, |arpáyi|, |tiyáni|, |stamní|, |mantíli|, |sentúki|, |xarkí|, |flankí|, |kukkí|, |stomáxi|, |askí|, |xoráfi|, |a8élfi|, |kalá0i|, |anká00i|, [xáppi[, |kumpí|, ¡ammátij, |puttí|, |ftí|, |kkásti|, |8ónti|, |xartí|, |nisí|, |vizí|.

50

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

2.2.2. Underlying Phonological Forms of Endings {masc. sing, nom.} {mase. sing, acc.} {masc. sing, gen.} {masc. pl. nom.}

{masc. pi. acc.}

{masc. pi. gen.} {fem. sing, nom.} {fem. sing, acc.} {fem. sing, gen.} {fem. pl. nom.} {fem. pl. acc.} {fem. pl. gen.} {neut. {neut. {neut. {neut. {neut. {neut.

sing, nom.} sing, acc.} sing, gen.} pl. nom.} pl. acc.} pl. gen.}

M |n| |U| 0

in the environment |o| -(— elsewhere in the environment |o| H— |i| |es| in the environment unstressed |3es| elsewhere |Us| in the environment |o| H— |es| in the environment unstressed [Ses] elsewhere homophonous with {masc. pi. acc.} 0 H NI in the environment unstressed M |0es| elsewhere homophonous with {fem. pl. nom.} |on| in the environment unstressed |θοη| elsewhere

|a| -1—

|a| -\—

vowel H—

vowel H—

M homophonous with {neut. sing, nom.} |U| lal homophonous with {neut. pl. nom.} |On| 2.2.3. Phonological Rules for Noun Paradigms

Only the rules directly related to the generation of noun forms are introduced at this point; it will be found that a few insertions have to be made later to handle alternations within the verbal system and across word boundaries. In certain cases the formulation of rules is influenced by a desire to handle, as far as is possible, certain facts not apparent from an investigation confined to the Mesarká dialect, which provides the above data, in particular certain correspondences linking this dialect to other local varieties of Cypriot Greek and to standard renditions. For these latter see Chapters 4 and 5. The rules are numbered as in the full list (see pp. 119-21). (Nl) Delete any stem-final vowel other than the |i| of masculines and neuters in the environment —f- vowel, transferring to the latter vowel any stress carried by the deleted one. (For masculines see derivation (2), p. 59).

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

51

Thus, from |voskó+U| we derive |vosk+Ú| (gen. sing, of 'shepherd'). We incidentally have a rule of apparently general application in derivational morphology. Thus, from |máyo| 'magician' and |ia| 'abstract noun suffix' we arrive ultimately at /mayá/ 'magic spell'. Note however that, while it applies in the derivation of verb stems (|voskó| + |íz| 'verbalizing suffix' yields ultimately /vossiz/- 'watch sheep'), it is replaced in verbal inflectional morphology by a more complex contraction rule (see p. 76). (N2) Transfer to the vowel which is located at the third mora from the end of the word any stress occurring earlier. Ex. |ónomat+a| - > |onómat+a| | ó n o m a t + U | - v |onomát+U| (PI) Replace all long vowels by short ones. The form just quoted becomes |onomát+u|. (P2) Delete morpheme boundaries. We now obtain |onomátu| ; in this particular instance no further rules are appliable and we may therefore write /onomátu/. N.B. : Unless otherwise stated, citations of underlying forms which do not contain the symbol + will refer from now on to the intermediate form which results immediately from the operation of the boundary deletion rule (see p. 49). (P3) Delete all consonants other than |n|, |s| from word-final consonant clusters. This replaces the nominative-accusative form |ónomatn| by |ónoman| (or /ónoman/ unless the sandhi rules of 6.3. apply). (P4) | k | - > | 0 |

M-m

in the environment - front vowel.

This rule accounts for the alternation observed in e.g., /péfkos/ : /péfci/, /tíxos/ : /tisi/. It is also important in derivational morphology (compare /sentúcin/ above with /nekroséntukon/ 'coffin' or /sákkos/ 'jacket' with /saccin/ 'sack'). For its suspension in standardizing forms, see p. 111. (P5) |k| -»- |c| in the environment - |c| |x| —*• |s| in the environment - |s| This accounts for the palatalization of geminate voiceless velars (c.f., /sákkos/ : /säcöi/). (P6) |1| — | r | in the environment - consonant. This rule replaces |a3élfin| 'sibling' by |a8érfin|. It is introduced at this point although its justification lies in the pattern of adaptation by which standard forms (e.g., /a3élfi/ are dialectalized, and in a segment of verb morphology (see p. 86). Note

52

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

also its potential relevance to the system of rules by which foreign loans are adapted : Turkish /bélki/ appears as /pérki/ 'perhaps', Italian /balkóne/ as /parkónin/. One reason for placing the rule here is that the generalization ' - consonant' would no longer be possible after the application of the yodization rule (P8) to forms such as |mantilia| in which |1| is unaifected (assuming |y| is regarded as a consonant). (P8) |i| —>- |y| in the environment - vowel. Ex. |mantiliu| —ν |mantilyu| (P9) |yV| —>• |y"V| Ex. |mantilyu| —|mantilyú| These last two rules are of universal application in Cypriot inflectional and derivational morphology: thus, from |vari| 'heavy' 1 and |ume| 'passive non-past 1st sing.' we obtain |varyúme|, and ultimately /varkúme/ 'I'm bored'. They also generate dialectal forms of standard borrowings (see p. 114). (PIO) |t| —»- |3| in the environment - |y|. In the Mesarká dialect, |ty|, |0y| and |3y| all yield /0k/ and the choice of |3y| as an intermediate derivation from |ty| is justified by consideration of the overall pattern of Cypriot dialects in so far as surface phonology never opposes sequences arising from |ty| to those arising from |8y|, while these on the one hand often contrast superficially with sequences arising from |0y|. It may be mentioned furthermore that [8y] is the realization of |ty| and [By[ in North Paphos, while |0y| appears as [θχ] (see p. 92). For example, |ammátya| -»• |ammá8ya|. (Pli) |t| -*• )o| in the environment - |8| The plural /pu01cá/ from |puttia| requires the assumption of the replacement of geminate |tt| by |38| before |y| (see p. 56, number 7). (P12) |s| ->- |s| . . ,„. ι in the environment - lyl IZK M ) The sequences /sy/ and /zy/ never in fact occur, as palatal sibilants are among the phonemes after which |y| is lost according to rule PI3a. We do not, however, state simply that |sy| - > |s|, etc., as the sequence |§y| can arise from other sources than |sy| (e.g., from |xi|). For example, |nisyá| - > |nis>yá|. " c "

(PI3) (a)

|y|-> 0

in the environment

s _z_

(b)

|y| - > |k| in the environment

|r | -

1 Simple |vari| does not occur, as in standard Greek, as an adjectival stem meaning 'heavy', the Cypriot for which is /varetós/ ('boring' in Athenian).

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

(c)

|y|

53

|k| in the environment

This rule pervades all aspects of Cypriot phonology, /varkúme/ (quoted in illustration of rule P9) provides an instance of the operation of (b) from verb inflection; for verb stem derivation we may cite /terkázo/ Ί match' with a stem from |téri| 'member of pair' and |az| 'verbalizing suffix'. The affixation of |ia| 'abstract noun suffix' to |pariyori| 'console' ultimately yields /pariorká/ 'consolation', to |nóto| 'South' /ηοθ|£á/ 'dew', to |ómorfo| 'beautiful' /omorká/ 'beauty' and to |trayu3a| 'sing' /trauOká/ 'singing'. (P14) |c| - > |s| in the environment |s|-. (P15) I s I

|s| in the environment -|s|.

Rule PI5 is required elsewhere to account for assimilation across word boundaries as in |tis # sirátis] -*• /tis sirátis/ 'of the widow' and for the similar phenomenon found in dialectalization of standard renditions (e.g., /sxizo/ Ί tear': /ssizo/). It also accounts in combination with P12 for the palatalization of |ss| before |y| (e.g., |melissi+a| yields /melissa/ 'swarms'. Combined with rules P4 and P14, it accounts for the /sk/ : /ss/ alternation in /voskós/ : /vossí/ 'shepherds' etc. (and in derivational morphology, c.f., /voskós/ : /vossízo/ Ί watch sheep'). (P17) Consonant -*• 0 in the environment | C - l j | . This deletes the middle consonant from the three-member clusters of intermediate forms such as |3ónoka| 'teeth', |kump^:á| 'buttons', |kkástlja| 'worries'. (PI9) Geminate consonant is simplified in the environment - consonant. Thus from |xáppka| we obtain |xáp^a| ( = /xàpîça/ 'pills') and from |anká001ja|, |anká9^a| ( = /ankáOfca/ 'thorns'). The separation and particular ordering of this rule and P17 arise from the need to insert the nasal assimilation rule (P18), which is required in verb morphology, after PI 7 (so as to avoid e.g., *|3ó33jja| 'teeth' from intermediate |3 |tt| The justification for this rule lies outside noun morphology; it is required for certain verb inflections (see derivation of 'it was washed' on p. 80) and relates certain Mesarká forms containing /tt/ (e.g., /petterá/) with southern and western cognates showing /ΘΘ/, see p. 99). For example, |anká00in| - > |ankáttin|. Note that the plural /ankáOka/ could theoretically, but much more circuitously, be derived from an underlying |ankáttia| (->- |ankáttya| - > |ankát3ya¡ - > |anká33ya| ->• |anká3oka| —ν |anká31ca| - > /ankáOka/). (P28) Voiced fricative - > voiceless fricative in the environment - stop. Thus, from the intermediate |pó3ka| 'feet', |karávka| 'boats' we reach /po0ka/, /karáfka/. For problems of areal extent see pp. 99-100. (P30) |θ| —>• |x| in the environment This rule relates dialectal to standard forms (see p. 26) and offers a convenient explanation of the relationship between e.g., /kaláxin/ 'basket' and its genitive /kalaOfcú/. (P31) Voice voiceless slit fricative before sonant. This rule explains the fluctuation between /fl/ and /vl/, /xr/ and /yr/, etc., mentioned on p. 29. It has no justification within the morphophonemics of purely dialectal forms and its purpose is to relate standardizing renditions to dialectal ones; it enables us to distinguish in underlying phonology those items which are pronounced consistently with a voiced fricative preceding a sonant (e.g., /vrési/ 'it rains' = jvréxij) and those in which such clusters fluctuate with sequences containing a voiceless fricative as first member (e.g., /vlancin/ 'liver = |flankin|). For further comment see p. 118.

56

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

2.2.4. Specimen Derivations A few derivations are now cited in order to illustrate the operation of the above rules. The numerals written above the arrows refer to the rule operating at that point. (1) 'horses' (nom. pl.) NI N2 PI P2 |ápparo + I| — y |áppar + I| — y |appár + I| — y |appár + i| >- |appári| (/appári/). The phonetic statements made in Chapter 1 now yield [ap-h á ri]. (2) 'peddlars' (nom. pl.) P2 P22 [mánti + Ses I y |mánti3es| — y |mánties| ( = /mánties/) The phonetic rules voice the /t/, giving [mándies]. (3) 'feet' (gen. pl.) N2 PI P2 P8 P9 |póSi + On| y |ροθί + On| — y |ρο3ί + on| —*• |ρο3ίοη| y |po3yon| y PI 3 P28 |pooyón| — y [po31c:ón| >· |po0kón| ( = /poGkón/). (4) 'teeth' (nom. pl.) P2 P8 PIO P13 P17 |3ónti + a| y |80ntia| —*• |3óntya| y |3ón3ya| >· |3ón3|ja| ν Idónea] ( = /Sónica/). The phonetic rules now yield [3ópga] unless a vowel precedes, in which case [ójiga] is possible (see 4.1.1.). (5) 'swarms' (nom. pl.) P2 P8 P12 P13 P15 |melíssi + a| y |melíssia| y |melíssya| y jmelíssya| y |melíssa| >|melíssa| ( = /melissa/). (6) 'mastic' (gen. sing.) N2 PI P2 P4 |mastixi + U| —>• |mastixi + U| — > |mastixi + u| — > |mastixiu| —•*• |mastisiu| P8 P9 PI 3 — > |mastisyu| >- |mastisyú| — ν |mastisú| ( = /mastisú/). (7) 'thighs' (nom. pl.) P2 P8 P9 PIO Pli |puttí + a| y |puttia| >• |puttya| y jputtyá| y |put3yá| — y |pu38yáj P13 P19 P28 y |puo8ká| y |puôkà| y |pu61já| ( = /puG^á/). 2.2.5. Irregular Paradigms (1) Three masculines in -/ós/ have their plural in -/ú(3)es/ : /yós/ : /yú(3)es/ 'son', /arfós/ : /arfú(3)es/ 'brother', /yamprós/ : /yamprú(3)es/ 'bridegroom'. Note also /círis/ : /cirú(3)es/ 'father' (gen. sing. /cirú/).

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

57

(2) The plural of /ráftis/ 'tailor' is /raftá(ó)es/, although this, and other masculine nouns of deverbal origin, have a (possibly more elevated) plural in -/es/. Thus, /kléftisI 'thief' (c.f., /kléfto/ Ί steal') has, as an alternant to its usual plural /kléfti(3)es/, /kléftes/. (3) The noun /ántras/ 'husband' has as its plural /antrá(o)es/; and /aéras/ 'wind', /xócas/ 'hoja', /aéri(3)es/ and /xóci(o)es/ respectively. (4) Some feminine stems in stressed -/á/ have -/és/ plurals. The data contain /volá/ 'occasion' (as in /0kó volés/ 'twice'), and /xará/ 'joy'. The considerable number of words in -/yá/, -/ká/, -/cá/ and -/sá/ which take -/és/ in the plural are not irregular in terms of the present rules, as they all have the underlying affix - |ia| 'abstract noun'. For example, /Θulyá/ : /3ulyés/ 'work', /omor^á/ : /omorkés/ 'beauty' 3 (morphophonemic |omorf+ía|), /cenká/ : /censés/ 'sharp pain' (|kent+ía|), /siéi/ : /siôés/ 'fig tree' (|sik+ía|), /korasá/ : /korasés/ 'virgin' (|koras+ía|). Feminines in -/i/ usually have -/á9es/ : /arfí/ 'sister', pl. /arfá(9)es/, /kufí/ 'snake', pl. /kufá(8)es/, /yortí/ 'festival', pl. /yortá(9)es/. But, -/és/ occurs in (/allai/ 'dress', pl. /allaés/). (5) The neuter nouns /mílon/ 'apple', /ksílon/ 'piece of wood', /sikon/ 'fig', /pkáton/ 'plate', /rúxon/ 'cloth' have stressed genitive endings. (6) The small number of neuters in -/os/ have a paradigm illustrated by that of /9ásos/ 'forest': /3ásos/ /òasi/ /9ásos/ /8ási/ /9ásu/ /9asón/ In addition to /8ásos/, these items occur in the data: /xéros/ 'harvest', /néfos/ 'cloud', /méros/ 'place', /vúnnos/ 'noise', /vúros/ 'running' (as in /évalen ton tu vúru/ 'he chased him'), /sili/ 'lips', /pási/ 'fat'; /fós/ 'light', in addition to possessing the genitive /fú/, is frequently pluialized /fóta/. /rkós/ 'debt' and its plural /yréi/ are both derived from underlying |xréos| (see p. 115). Many items in this group have defective paradigms (but the denial of plurals to the last two forms in Menardos (1913, p. 143) is inapplicable to present-day usage).

2.2.6. Masculine Genitive Plural

The masculine nouns /yrónos/ 'year' and /minas/ 'month' have a genitive plural form in -/ón/ which occurs in adjectival phrases such as /0kó minóm morón/ 'a child two months old', /poso yronón/ 'how old?'. The masculine /pparás/, now usually 'money', occurs in the sense 'coin of small value' in the expression /01jó pparaGkón/ (e.g., /0kó pparaOkón yenéka/ 'worthless woman'). Elsewhere in true dialectal speech the genitive plural of masculine nouns is homophonous with the accusative plural, although the genitive plural is very rare in any gender. 3

As in the phrase /e s-tes omorkés tis/ 'she's looking her best.'

58

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

2.2.7. Vocative Forms Most personal names and some animate common nouns have vocatives homophonous with the nominative forms or, in the case of masculine singulars, derived from the nominative by deletion of final -/s/. Thus, /pávlo / 'Paul!' (nom. /pávlos/), /kósta/ 'Costas!' (nom. /kóstas/), /yíto/'neighbour!' (nom. /yítos/). The vocatives of a few masculine -/os/ nouns are in -/e/ : /Oké/ 'uncle!' (nom. /0kós/), /yé/ 'son!' (nom. /yós/), /vossé/ 'shepherd!' (nom, /voskós/).

2.3. T H E A D J E C T I V E

2.3.0. Introductory The adjective in Cypriot Greek is inflected for number, case and gender, except for most numerals and the item /káxe/ 'each' (for which see 2.3.8., 2.4.2.). Typical paradigms are first presented and then, in 2.3.2., follows an account of their morphophonemic structure, which closely parallels that of the nominal system. 2.3.1. Specimen Adjective Paradigms TABLE 8

Specimen Adjective Paradigms singular masc.

fem.

plural neuter

masc.

fem.

neuter

'bad' nom. acc. gen.

kakós kakón kakú

kaöi kaöin kaëis

kakón kakón kakú

kaíí kakús kakús

kaôés kaëés kakón

kaká kaká kakón

ómorfi ómorfus ómorfus

ómorfes ómorfes ómorfon

ómorfa ómorfa ómorfon

piaey pla91fús pla9kús

pla9fcés pla9jfés pla9¡fón

plaGlfá plaGká plaBifón

mitsés mitsés mitäon

mitsá mitáá mitSón

'beautiful' nom. acc. gen.

ómorfos ómorfon ómorfu

ómorfi ómorfin ómorfis

ómorfon ómorfon ómorfu 'wide'

nom. acc. gen.

platís platín plaOfeú

pla9fcá pla91fán plaO^ás

platín platín plaBljú

'small' nom. acc. gen.

mitsís mitsín mitsSú

mitSá mitsán mitsás

mitsín mitsín mitsú

mitäi mitsús mitSús

THE N O U N , ADJECTIVE A N D

2.3.2. Adjective

59

PRONOUN

Morphophonemics

The Cypriot adjective form consists of a stem and one of eighteen inflectional endings which marks simultaneously the categories of gender (masculine/ feminine/ neuter), number (singular/ plural) and case (nominative/ accusative/ genitive). The stem ends in |i| or |o| and before feminine endings has an allomorph derived according to the following rule: (1) Replace |o| by |i| in the environment after consonant. (2) Replace |o| by |a| in the environment after vowel. (3) Add |a| in the environment after |i|. Thus, the adjectival stem |kaló| 'good' has the allomorph before feminine endings [kali]; joréo] 'beautiful' has the allomorph |oréa|, and [vaGis] 'deep' has the allomorph |va01a|. This completes the statement of adjectival stems. The endings are now tabulated: TABLE 9

Endings for Adjectival

Stems

singular

nom. acc. gen.

plural

masc.

fem.

neut.

s η u

0 η s

η η u

masc.

fem.

neut.

i us us

es es on

a a on

Comparison with p. 50 shows that these endings are identical with those allomorphs of the nominal set which are selected by stems in |o[ for masculine and neuter items and by those in unstressed vowel for feminine items, except that long vowels are here replaced by the corresponding short ones. The underlying morphophonemic form resulting from the affixation of the appropriate ending to the adjectival stem or its feminine allomorph is now acted on by the phonological rules applicable to nominal morphophonemic forms. Specimen derivations are presented : (1) 'deep' (fem. sing, acc.) P2 P8 P9 |va0ia| (fem. allomorph of |va0i|) + |n| — > |va0ían| — > |va0yan| — | v a 0 y á n | P13 ν |va0fcán| (/va0kán/) (2) 'small' (masc. pl. nom.) P2 P8 P9 P12 PI 3 |mitsi + i| >· |mitsii| > |mitsyi| — | m i t s y í | > |mitsyi| >- |mitsi| ( = /mitsi/ = /miöci/)

60

THE N O U N , ADJECTIVE A N D

PRONOUN

(3) 'wide' (fem. pl. nom.) NI P2 P8 |platia| (fem. allomorph of |platí|) + |es| — > ¡piati + es| — > |platíes| — > P9 PIO P13 P28 |platyes| — > |platyés| >- |pla8yés| — > |pla31^és| —>- |pla0^és| ( = /plaGlfés/ (4) 'bad' (fem. sing, nom.) P2 P4 |kaki| (fem. allomorph of |kakó|) + 0 —>- |kakí| ν jkací] ( = /kacif) 2.3.3. Adjectives in Unstressed - /is/ Most adjectives in -/is/ have a denominai base (e.g., /vaGis/ ( ~ /vaxis/) 'deep' < /váGos/ 'depth') and are inflected normally. Adjectives in unstressed -/is/ decline like masculine nouns of similar termination (e.g., /ttempélis/ 'lazy' has acc. /ttempélin/, gen. /ttempéli/, pl. /ttempéli(3)es/) and usually have feminine forms in -/a/ (e-g·, /ttempéla/). Indeed it is uncertain whether many such words are to be classed as adjectives at all, rather than as masculine nouns with derivationally related feminine cognates. Forms such as /áSsimomúris/ 'ugly', /kampurkáris/ 'hunch-backed' do not seem to be used attributively and rarely with the intensifier /pollá/ 'very' or the comparative particle /perittu/ 'more'. The data contain two items in -/is/ of uncertain major class membership: /ppintis/, fem. /ppintina/ 'mean (person)' and /yinaksis/, fem. /yinaksína/ 'obstinate (person)'. While informants accept /em pollá ppintina túti./ 'she's very mean' they regard /em mya àlli ppintina túti./ 'she's another miser' as more natural. 2.3.4. Comparison of Adjectives A limited number of adjectives possess comparative forms in -/xtteros/ or -/ótteros/ (with stem-final vowel deletion even for |i|). The distribution of these allomorphs is apparently unpredictable and some of the commonest cases are listed :

TABLE

10

The Distribution of /itteros/ and /ótteros/ in the Comparison of Adjectives adjective

comparative

vaxis makris pasis mitsis varetós kaxarós pastos

vaxítteros makrítteros pasítteros mitsótteros varetótteros kaxarótteros pastótteros

meaning 'deep' 'long' 'fat' 'small' 'heavy' 'clean' 'lean'

61

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN adjective

comparative

kserós pikrós stenós xamilós psilós kalós kontós ylioros myálos ftanós

kserótteros pikrótteros stenótteros xamilótteros psilótteros kallitteros kontítteros yliorítteros myallítteros ftanótteros

meaning 'dry' 'bitter' 'narrow' 'short' (in stature) 'tall' 'good' 'short' 'fast' 'big' 'thin'

/kakós/ 'bad' : /sirótteros/ 'worse' was the only suppletive pair found. All adjectives (with the possible exceptions of /kakós/ and /kalós/) may be compared by prefixation of the adverb /perittu/ : /tútos em períttu oinámenos pu ména./ 'this man is stronger than me'. The hypercharacterizations /períttu sirótteros/ 'worse' and /perittu kallitteros/ 'better' are heard. (Relative) superlatives are constructed by (a) placing the definite article before the synthetic comparative where such exists or (b) prefixing the positive adjective by /pkó/ and again using the definite article. For example, /tún to nerón en to vaxitteron./ 'this water's the deepest.' /en to pkó palyó spítin tu xorkú./ 'it's the oldest house in the village' (for the sandhi loss of /n/ in the adjective see pp. 121-3). 2.3.5. Adverbialization of Adjectives Adverbs may be derived from both positive and comparative forms of many adjectives by adding |a| to the underlying stem and deleting stem final |o| by rule N l . For example, /vurá ylíora.¡ 'he runs fast' (underlying stem |ylíyoro|) /vúra ylioríttera.¡ 'run faster!'. /kályon/ occurs as an alternative to /kallittera/ 'better' in sentences introduced by the elliptical (verb-deleted) /kályon na/. For example /kályon na páis stix xóras símmeron./ 'it would be better if you went to Nicosia today'. 2.3.6. Demonstrative Adjectives The demonstrative adjectives of nearer and further reference (/tútos/, /cinos/) inflect quite regularly on the basis of underlying stems |túto| and |kino|, but when the definite article before which they are always constructed occurs in any form with initial /t/, they are reduced optionally to /tun/, /δίη/. For example : /tútos o ttempélis/ 'this lazy fellow' /tún to ksilon/ 'this wood' /tûtes i yenéôes/ 'these women' (nom.)

62

THE N O U N , ADJECTIVE A N D P R O N O U N

/tún tes yenéces/ /cín ta sérka/

'these women' (acc.) 'those hands' 2.3.7. The Articles

The inflection of the definite article is only partially regular; its full paradigm is as follows : TABLE 11

The Inflection of the Definite Article singular

nom. acc. gen.

plural

mase.

fern.

neut.

mase.

fem.

neut.

0 ton tu

i tin tis

to to tu

i tus tus

i tes ton

ta ta ton

The indefinite article /enas/ is derived by deleting stress from the numeral adjective /énas/ 'one' ; the latter presents the following paradigm : TABLE 1 2

The Numeral Adjective /énas/

nom. acc. gen.

mase.

fem.

neut.

énas enan myú ~ enú

myá myán myás

énan énan myú ~ enú

2.3.8. Numerals Apart from /énas/, whose paradigm is given in 2.3.7., the numerals 'three' and 'four' have (three-member) paradigms whose members represent (a) nom. - acc. masculine and feminine, (b) nom. - acc. neuter, (c) genitive (all genders). They are : tris tría trión tésseris tèssera tessáron Numeral adjectives designating multiples of 100 inflect regularly on the assumption of underlying stems in -|kósio|, as does the word Ί000' (underlying stem |xilio|). For multiples of 1000 the plural of the feminine noun |xiliá3a| is modified by the appropriate numeral adjective. Examples are:

63

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

/tría yrósa/ /tésseris silyáez lires/ /sílya kaká/ /pentakósa spíOka/

'three piasters' '4,000' 'a thousand woes' 'five hundred houses'

2.4. P R O N O U N S

2.4.0. Personal Pronouns The personal pronouns of Cypriot Greek form two subsystems, a stressed one whose members are used where some sort of contrastive implication is involved, and an unstressed one. The pronouns of the first and second persons are displayed in Table 13. TABLE 13

The Personal Pronouns of the First and Second Persons singular nom. stressed

1 2

unstressed

1 2

acc.

eyó(ni) esú(ni)

plural gen.

nom.

eménan esénan

me se

mu su

acc.

gen.

emís esís

emás esás

_

mas sas

The third person forms, in addition to marking number and case, specify gender, and, in the case of the stressed sub-system, a distinction is made between nearer and further reference. The stressed forms are homophonous with the demonstrative adjectives of nearer and further references (see 2.3.6.), while the unstressed forms are listed in Table 14. TABLE 14

Unstressed Personal Pronouns of the Third Person singular

acc. gen.

plural

mase.

fem.

neut.

mase.

fem.

neut.

ton tu

tin tis

to tu

tus tus

tes tus

ta tus

64

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

It will be noticed that these latter forms are homophonous with the accusative and genitive members of the definite article paradigm (2.3.7.), except that the distinction made there in the genitive plural between /tus/ (mase.) and /ton/ (fem. and neut.) is collapsed in favour of /tus/. In the case of the stressed forms, the feminine plural genitive is used only possessively; it may not replace a prepositional phrase with /se/ 'to' (i.e., it is not used for the indirect object). Thus, while ¡én tus ípun tutus nártusin./ Ί didn't tell these people to come' is accepted by informants with reference to males or non-specifically, female reference requires the use of the prepositional phrase ¡én tus ípun se tûtes nártusin./ Unemphatic subject reference is carried by the verbal inflection, thus /ia tus./ Ί saw them (versus ¡eyó tus ía./ ' / saw them'). The accusative and genitive forms of the stressed pronouns are normally used appositionally to the appropriate unstressed pronoun. For example: /eménan ém mu ípen típotes./ 'He said nothing to me\ /aréskum mupollá eménan tun ta prámata./ ' / am very fond of these things' (lit. 'these things please me a lot'), /cínon na ton arotísis. ói túton./ 'Ask that fellow, not this'. As was pointed out on p. 44, the postposed (enclitic) use of the unstressed personal pronouns after verbs and nouns constitutes a common exception to the fairly general rule that stress may not occur further back than on the third vowel from the end of an utterance (but see p. 83 on -/ te /)· Examples are : ¡éoka tu to./ Ί gave it to him'. /aápisen tin./ 'he fell in love with her', /epúlisen taftokiniton tu/ 'he sold his car'. The main exceptions to the rule that unstressed pronouns are enclitic occur when they are governed by a verb and are as follows : (1) The verb is preceded by a sentence-stressed element. ¡ecíni mu to épepsen./ 'she sent it me'. ¡extés tus to ípun./ Ί told them yesterday'. (2) A negative particle (/én/, /mén/) or an interrogative pronoun or adverb precedes the verb (such elements being stressed or unstressed). ¡én tu to éoka./ Ί didn't give it him'. lyatímu to éferes./ 'why did you bring it me?' ¡én ikséro yati mu to éferen./ Ί don't know why he brought it me'. (3) The verb is introduced by a subordinating conjunction or by the particles /as/ or /enna/. /ama to emâxan, efoixíkasin.¡ 'when they learned of it they were afraid', /xélo na tus to díkso.j Ί want to show it to them', /enna to Okeváso.j Ί shall read it', /as tus tonisi./ 'let him help them'. 2.4.1. Other Pronouns Four common pronouns form suppletive sets and are tabulated below:

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN TABLE

65

15

Four Common Pronouns masc.

fem.

neut.

'who, what V nom. acc. gen.

pfcós Pkón

PU pfcán

inta inta

tinos 'whoever, whatever'

nom. acc. gen.

ópfcos ópfcon

ópfca ópkan

óti óti

ótinos 'someone, something'

nom. acc. gen.

kápkos kápfcon káplfu

kápka kapfcan kápkas

káti káti

'no one, nothing' nom. acc. gen.

kanénas kanénan kanenú

kamyá kamyán kamyás

típote(s) típote(s)

The adjective 'each' appears to have two underlying forms. |ká0e|, found in central Cyprus (and elsewhere in standardizing speech), is indeclinable. Thus, /ká0e mina/ ~ /káxe mina/ 'every month' and /ká0e mèra/ ~ /káxe mèra/ 'every day'. The variant underlying form |ká0a| on the other hand usually occurs as |ká0i| when modifying feminine nouns: /káxa mina/, /káxi nixta/. Two informants (at 71 and 103; see the Appendix pp. 176-7 for the names of villages and Map 1 for their location) provided /káxa nixta/, however. The forms in -/pkos/ (morphophonemic |pio + s|) follow normal adjectival inflection (2.3.2.) and may be found in the plural. They may also occur as modifiers in agreement with a noun and their indeclinable neuters may also serve as noun modifiers, /inta/ 'what' in its pronominal use is normally constructed with /eni/ 'is' and /pu/ 'which' (the indeclinable relative pronoun), the whole contracted to /intampu/ (e.g., ¡íntampu xélis,/ 'what do you want?'). There seems to be no reflexive pronoun in Cypriot Greek and the Cypriot equi-

66

THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

valent of what would, in other types of Greek, be a reflexive construction is apparently passive verb + 'alone' + appropriate unstressed pronoun in genitive. Thus, 'she killed herself' is represented by /eskotóxim manisí tis/ (c.f., Ί came alone' /irta manixóz mu/). The unstressed genitive forms of the personal pronouns may be prefixed by /llóu/, and the sequence thus formed by /pu/ 'from' or /ya/ 'for' to yield e.g., 'at his own expense', 'for me': /pu llóutu/, /ya llóumu/.

3 THE VERB

3.0. INTRODUCTION

The traditional categorization of the indicative tenses of the modern Greek verb may be illustrated by presenting the third singular active forms of the verb 'read' in their Cypriot shape : (1) Present: /Okevázi/ 'he reads/ is reading' (2) Imperfect : /eGkévazen/ 'he was reading/ used to read' (3) Aorist: /eBkévasen/ 'he read/ has read' (4) Future punctual: /enna Okevási/ 'he will read' (i.e., a specific text) (5) Future continuous: /enna Gkevázi/ 'he will read' (i.e., perform the activity)/'be reading' The form /Gkevási/ is often labelled 'subjunctive', presumably because it is obligatorily introduced by one of a set of conjunctions such as /na/, which usually marks embedded clauses (/xéli na Bkevási to vivlíon./ 'he wants to read the book') or the particle of futurity /enna/ (negative /én cenna/ ~ /enna mén/ ~ /έθ 0a/). The distinction is supported by the existence of two negative particles, one occurring with 'indicative' forms (/én/), the other (/mén/) with 'subjunctive' (and imperative). Furthermore, in opposition to this 'punctual' subjunctive, a continuous one, homophonous with the present indicative, is assumed whenever a form such as /Okevázi/ appears in one of the environments which are obligatoiy for the occurrence of the formally identifiable 'punctual subjunctive'. The point, an important and difficult one, is not here argued. We merely assume for the sake of our present purpose that the formal patterns immanent in the inflectional paradigms of the Cypriot verb can most simply be explicated by rejecting the 'subjunctive' hypothesis and by recognizing two aspects ('perfective' and 'imperfective') and, cutting across this distinction, two tenses ('non-past' and 'past'). The resulting 2 x 2 matrix would accommodate the above forms as follows : non-past past Gkevázi imperfective e9kévazen perfective

01çevàsi

1

eO^évasen

68

THE VERB

The corresponding passive forms build on a third dimension : imperfective perfective

non-past Gkevázete Gkevastí

past eGkevázetun e9kevástin

It may be noted that the term 'passive' as used in the present study relates to a particular set of forms and has no semantic connotation; the 'semantic' passive is rare in Cypriot Greek; that is, it is rarely the case that a formally passive verb represents the tiansformation of an active one (e.g. /puló to spítin/ Ί sell the house' => /to spítim pulyéte/ 'the house is sold'). 'Passive' endings occur most commonly with the limited set of (usually) intransitive verbs which are exclusively passive in form (media tantum). In addition to its indicative paradigm, the Cypriot verb possesses a potential, but rarely fully implemented set of eight imperative forms, each representing a crosscategorization resulting from the three oppositions singular/plural, perfective/imperfective, active/passive. As each of the eight indicative sub-sets has six forms (first, second and third persons singular and plural) the total number of potential finite forms for each verb is 56. The majority of Cypriot verbs fall into one of the three broad classes now exemplified by presenting the complete paradigms of /akúo/ Ί hear', /vuró/ Ί run' (or /cimúme/ Ί sleep' for passive) and /puló/ Ί sell'. The first belongs to the large class of 'barytone' (stem-stressed) verbs while the others represent the two 'oxytone' (ending-stressed) groups, differentiated by an /a/ : /i/ correspondence in certain forms such as imperfective non-past active third singular (/vurá/ 'he runs' vs. /pulì/ 'he sells'). The aim of this presentation is to illustrate the range of data to be accounted for in the morphophonemic section; in addition to the problem of explaining as far as is possible the variety of personal endings there is that of predicting in a fairly simple way the 'perfective stems' of active and passive forms and the various stress shifts.

3.1. S P E C I M E N V E R B

PARADIGMS

TABLE 16

Imperfective Non-Past Active 'hear' 1st pers. sing. 2nd pers. sing. 3rd pers. sing. 1st pers. pl. 2rd pers. pl. 3rd pers. pl.

akúo akuis akúi akúmen akúete akúsin ~ akún

'run' vuró vurás vurá vurúmen vuráte vurúsin ~ vurún

'sell' puló pulís pulí pulúmen pulite pulúsin ~ pulún

THE VERB

69

TABLE 17

Perfective

Non-Past

'hear'

Active

'run'

1st pers. sing. akúso 2nd pers. sing. akúsis 3rd pers. sing. akúsi 1st pers. pi. akúsumen 2nd pers. pi. akúsete 3rd pers. pi. akúsusin ~ akúsun

vuríso vurísis vurísi vurísumen vurísete vurísusin ~ vurisun

'sell' pulíso pulísis pulísi pulisumen pulísete pulísusin ~ pulísun

TABLE 18

Imperfective

Past

'hear'

Active 'run'

1st pers. sing. ékua 2nd pers. sing. ékues 3rd pers. sing. ékuen ekúamen 1st pers. pl. 2nd pers. pl. ekúete 3rd pers. pl. ekúasin ~ ekúan

evúrun evuras evúran evurúsamen evurúsete evurusasin ~ evurusan

'sell' epúlun epúles epúlen epulúsamen epulúsete epulúsasin ~ epulúsan

TABLE 19

Perfective

Past

'run'

'hear' 1st pers. sing. ékusa 2nd pers. sing. ékuses 3rd pers. sing. ékusen 1st pers. pl. ekúsamen 2nd pers. pl. ekúsete ekúsasin ~ ekúsan 3rd pers. pl.

Active 'sell'

evúrisa evurises evurisen evurísamen evurísete evurísasin ~ evurísan

epúlisa epúlises epúlisen epulísamen epulísete epulísasin ~ epulísan

TABLE 2 0

Imperfective 'hear' 1st pers. sing. 2nd pers. sing. 3rd pers. sing. 1st pers. pl. 2nd pers. pl. 3rd pers. pl.

akúme akúese akúete akuúmastin akúeste akúnte

Non-Past

Passive

'sleep' Cimúme ¿imáse éimáte ¿imúmastin dimáste Cimúnte

'sell' pulyúme pulyése pulyéte pulyúmastin pulyéste pulyúnte

70

THE VERB TABLE 2 1

Perfective Non-Past Passive 'hear' 1st pers. sing. 2nd pers. sing. 3rd pers. sing. 1st pers. pi. 2nd pers. pi. 3rd pers. pi.

'sleep'

akustó akustis akusti akustúmen akustite akustúsin ~ akustun

'sell'

òimixó éimixís ¿imixí íimixúmen öimixite Cimixúsin ~ Cimixün

TABLE

pulixó pulixis pulixí pulixúmen pulixíte pulixúsin ~ pulixún

22

Imperfective Past Passive 'hear' 1st pers. sing. 2nd pers. sing. 3rd pers. sing. 1st pers. pl. 2nd pers. pl. 3rd pers. pl.

'sleep'

'sell'

eöimumun eCimásun eíimátun eCimúmastin eéimástun eóimúntan

ekúmun ekúesun ekúetun ekuúmastin ekúestun ekúntan

TABLE

epulyúmun epulyésun epulyétun epulyúmastin epulyéstun epulyúntan

23

Perfective Past Passive 'hear' 1st pers. sing. 2nd pers. sing. 3rd pers. sing. 1st pers. pl. 2nd pers. pl. 3rd pers. pl.

ekústika ekústis ~ -iljes ekústin ~ -iken ekustíkamen ekustíkete ekustikasin ~ ekustikan ~ ekústisan

'sleep'

'sell'

eëimixika eíimixis ~ -ikes eöimixin — i j f e n eíimixíkamen eóimixí^ete eCimixikasin ~ ecimixikan ~ eíimixisan

epulíxika epulixis ~ -iljes epulixin ~ -iken epulixíkamen epulixíkete epulixíkasin ~ epulixikan ~ epulixisan

The occurring imperative forms of the above verbs are as follows : TABLE

24

Imperative singular

plural

meaning

akúte vuráte pulite

'hear' 'run' 'sell'

active imperfective

áku vúra púle

71

T H E VERB

singular

plural

meaning

akúste puliste

'hear' 'sell'

öimixite

'sleep'

active perfective

ákuse púlise passive

perfective

öimixu

Various third person forms are now appended for the purpose of illustrating further certain common types of alternation : TABLE 2 5

Various Third Person Forms Illustrating

Types of

Alternation

imp. non-past act.

imp. non-past pass.

perf. past act.

perf. past pass.

meaning

vláfti pémpi 9ίγηί sfánlfi apá vastá xorízi Suléflfi plinnislfi maraníslji

vláftete pémpete 8íynete sfánjfete apkéte vaskéte xorízete

évlapsen épepsen é6iksen ésfaksen aápisen evástisen exórisen e6úlepsen éplinnen emáranen

evláftin epéftin eSíxtin esfáxtin apíxin evastíxin exorístin

'hurt' 'send' 'show' 'slaughter' 'love' 'hold' 'separate' 'work' 'wash' 'wither'8· 'faint' 'cough'

—

viääi

—

plinnisfeete —

fírnete

—

éviksen

—

—

eplíttin emaráttin efírtin —

» /emáranen/ and /emaráttin/ apparently both occur as the perfective past of /maranlski/.

3.2. V E R B

MORPHOPHONEMICS

3.2.0.

Introductory

In order to account for the inflectional paradigms of the Cypriot Greek verb it is necessary to set up a basic structure with two or, in the case of perfective forms, three elements as follows : verb stem ( + perfectivizer) + personal ending The perfectivizer has a meaning something like 'punctual'; the personal ending marks one of the twenty-four possible combinations of categories resulting from the following four obligatory choices :

72

THE VERB

(1) Past/non-past (2) Active/passive (3) First/second/third person (4) Singular/plural A 'taxonomic' analysis might, on the above basis, segment /exoristin/ 'it was separated' as follows : (1) /exoris/ allomorph of /xoriz/ 'separate' occurring before a sequence of 'perfectivizer' and past personal ending. (2) /t/ 'perfectivizer' ; allomorph which occurs, inter alia, after verb stems in sibilants. (3) /in/ 'personal ending' ; meaning : 'past, passive, third person, singular'. It is the purpose of the present section to outline the manner in which underlying forms set up for verb stems and for verb affixes may be mapped into the superficial structures illustrated above. It will be found that the phonological rules established in connection with the nominal system retain in general their validity but that certain additional rules specific to verbal structures have to be introduced at appropriate points in the sequence. The first task, however, is to set up morphophonemic forms on which the rules can operate. 3.2.1. The Underlying Morphophonemic Representation of Indicative Verb Forms The underlying forms of the personal endings are displayed in Table 26. TABLE

26

Personal Endings of Verbs singular 1

plural

2

3

1

2

3

Active

non-past past

-O -a ~ -un

-Is -es

-I -en

-umen -amen

-ete -ete

-usin ~ -Un -asm ~ -An

Passive

non-past past

-urne -umun

-ese -esun

-ete -etun

-umastin -umastin

-este -estun

-unte -untan

It is uncertain whether much is to be gained by further segmenting these morphemes in order to associate individual categories operating at this point with specific stretches of phonic substance. Certain rudimentary form-meaning correlations may be perceived; in particular a very plausible case could be made for isolating a morpheme |un| 'past' which is suffixed to the past forms in the passive: thus /érkumun/ Ί was coming' could be held to contain two verbal affixes, /um/ (underlying shape

THE VERB

73

|ume|) 'passive, first, singular', and /un/ (underlying shape |un|) 'past'. We do not, however, do this for two main reasons : (1) The rule which would be required to delete the final |e| of the immediately preceding non-past morphemes, while apparently similar in effect to the 'contraction rule' cited below (which reduces a combination of |e| and |u| to |u|), cannot apparently be identified with the latter (at least within the framework of non-cyclic application), in so far as if it occurred in the same position, viz. after the stress placement rules, it would produce incorrect stresses. From je + erx + ume + un| Ί was coming' the final derivation would be */erkúmun/, instead of the correct /érkumun/. (2) Such phonological relationships as connect the present unsegmented non-past and past morphemes of the active are phonetically quite distinct from those obtaining within the passive sub-system. Turning now to the selection of verbal affixes we note that the facts are somewhat more complex than Table 26 suggests and in order to reach the underlying morphophonemic form we apply the following 'verb morphology' rules. (VM1) Prefix {augment} to {verb stem} if the personal ending contains 'past'. (VM2) Augment-> |e|. All past tenses of Cypriot Greek verbs are prefixed by the past tense marker ('augment') |e|, the only exception being the optional case of verbs with initial vowel, for which see below on rule VI (3.2.2.). The deletion of unstressed augment which is characteristic of mainland dialects is quite rare even with speakers whose idiolect bears relatively few specifically Cypriot characteristics. Thus, /paénno/ Ί go' : /epáenna/ Ί was going', /katalávo/ Ί understand' : /ekatálava/ Ί get it'. (VM3) Select the appropriate underlying form for the verb stem. The underlying forms of the stems cited thus far are as follows : |3ievaz| 'read', |0el| 'want', |aku| 'hear', |puli| 'sell', |vura| 'run', |kima| 'sleep', |vlaft| 'hurt', |pemp| 'send', |9ixn| 'show', |sfank| 'slaughter', |ayapa| 'love', |vasta| 'hold', |xoriz| 'separate', |3ulevy| 'work', |plinnisk| 'wash', |maranisk| 'wither', |firn| 'faint', |vixx| 'cough', |erx| 'come', |payenn| 'go', |katalav| 'understand'. For certain stem alternations in 'hear', 'come', 'go' and 'understand', see 3.2.9. (VM4) Effect the following changes in verb-stem final segments : (a) | a | - v | i | before {personal ending} in passive transforms or before {perfectivizer}. This accounts for two facts in the paradigms of verbs such as |ayapa|, which have underlying final |a|. First, the imperfective passives are like those of verbs with underlying |i| (e.g., |puli|) : /aapá/ 'he loves' but /apkéte/ (i.e., |ayapi+ete|) 'he is loved', c.f., |puli+ete|. (Verbs with imperfective passives with |a| are apparently all media tantum items like /cimúme/ Ί sleep'). Secondly, only |i| occurs before the

74

THE VERB

various forms of the perfectivizer in the case of 'oxytone' verbs, whether the underlying stem has |a| or |i|. Thus 'he fell in love with' is /aápisen/, 'they fell in love with one another' /apixikan/. (b) |nn| ->• 0 before {perfectivizer}. Thus, /xánno/ Ί lose' has the perfective past active /éxasa/ Ί lost' and the perfective past passive /exáxika/ Ί got lost'. Compare also /θίηηο/ Ί bind' but /enna 3iso/ Ί shall bind', /éSisa/ Ί bound', /skotónno/ Ί kill' but /enna skotoxó/ Ί shall be killed'. (c) |isk|-> 0 before {perfectivizer}. Verb stems in final |isk| drop this in the perfective active or passive. Illustrations are /pexanisko/ Ί die' but /epéxanen/ 'he died', /eplinniska/ Ί was washing' but /éplinna/ Ί washed', /eplíttin/ 'it was washed', /yiniskume/ Ί become' but /eyinika/ Ί became', /miniski/ 'he lives, stays' but /éminen/ 'he stayed' (on one occasion). (d) |n| -»- 0 after a consonant before {perfectivizer}. Examples are: /férno/ Ί bring': /éfera/ Ί brought', /ékamna/ Ί was doing': /ékama/ Ί did', /θίγηχ/ 'he shows: /enna Síksi/ 'he will show'. (e) |z| -*• 0 before {perfectivizer} followed by personal ending containing 'active' (i.e., before the |s| form of the perfectivizer). Thus, /xorizo/ Ί separate' : /exórisa/ Ί separated', /évraza/ Ί was boiling' : /évrasa/ Ί boiled'. (VM5) (a) {perfectivizer}-»- 0 in the environment {verb stem} ending in |isk| or in consonant + |n| - {personal ending} containing 'active'. Examples of zero perfectivization are provided in illustration of VM4 above, under (c) and (d). (b) {perfectivizer} —>- |s| before {personal ending} containing 'active'. Examples are /puló/ Ί sell' : /enna puliso/ Ί shall sell', /ôuléfko/ Ί work' : /eSúlepsa/ Ί worked' ( = |e + 8ulevy + s + a|). (c) {perfectivizer}->- |0i| before personal ending containing 'non-past, passive'. Thus, 'he will be killed' is |enna| + |skoto| (for |nn| loss see under VM4) + |0i| + |I|, which yields ultimately /enna skotoxi/. (d) {perfectivizer}-> |0ik| before {personal ending} containing 'past, passive'. Thus, 'he was killed' has the morphophonemic shape |e + skoto + 6ik + en| (/eskotóxi^en/).

THE VERB

75

(VM6) In {personal ending} replace 'passive' by 'active' if {perfectivizer} precedes. This accounts for the fact that in the perfective passive of indicative verb forms the personal endings have underlying forms homophonous with the corresponding active ones, /pulì/ 'he sells' and /enna pulixi/ it will be sold' both have the personal ending |I| (|puli + I|, |puli + 0i + I|); /ékusa/ Ί heard' and /ékustika/ Ί was heard' both have |a| (|e + aku + s + a|, |e + akuz + 0ik + a|). (VM7) {Personal ending} - > appropriate underlying form. N.B.: |un| 'past, active, first person, singulai' occurs after |i| and |a| : /epúlun/ Ί was selling' (|e + puli + un|); otherwise |a|. The longer forms of 'active, third person, plural' are avoided immediately before object pronouns. (VM8) Insert |us| in the environment |i| or |a| - {personal ending} containing 'past, active, plural'. This implies that |us| occurs between the stem of an |i| or |a| verb and the plural forms of the imperfective past active morpheme: /evurúsete/ 'you were running' (Je + vura + usete|). Its insertion in singular forms of this tense is confined to speakers with standardizing tendencies. Thus, /emporúsa/ Ί could' might be heard in the towns for /empórun/ (|mpori| 'be able'). (VM9) The |ik| of the passive perfectivizer is usually deleted before the personal endings 'second singular' and 'third singular' and may be so deleted before 'third plural'; if such a deletion occurs the personal endings themselves are replaced by |Is|, [In], |isan| respectively. This optional rule accounts for the fluctuation in the perfective past passive between e.g. /ecimiGikes/ and /ecimiGis/ 'you went to sleep'. The shorter forms are probably much commoner in village dialects and standardizing speech tends to favour the longer ones, but both occur in apparently free variation in most idiolects. 3.2.2. Phonological Rules for Verbs The previous section indicates the manner in which the morphophonemic representation of the verb is established. The present one shows how this is operated on by phonological rules which yield a representation in terms of the phonemes of Chapter 1. In addition to certain insertions which have to be made in the sequence of general phonological rules already set up for nominal morphophonemics, it is found that the two rules specific to nouns must be replaced by three rules specific to verbs in order to lead from the morphophonemic representation to the one which may be acted on by PI and its successors. These will be called VI, V2, V3. (VI) (a) Delete |a| in the environment {augment} (b) Delete {augment} in the environment - |i|, |o|, |e|.

76

THE VERB

This rule accounts for the fact that augmentation has three forms: (a) prefixation of |e| to consonant - initial stems, (b) the replacement of initial |a| by |e|, (c) zero in the case of stems with initial |o|, |e|, |i|. Thus, from the morphophonemic representation |e + ayora + s + en| 'he bought' (underlying verb stem |ayoraz|), we are led to |e + yora + s + en| (ultimately /eyórasen/ ~ /eórasen/), and from morphophonemic |e + aku + s + a| Ί heard' (stem |aku|) to |e + ku + s + a| (ultimately /ékusa/). As in Standard Demotic, many urban idiolects delete augment before |a|; thus, the above might be replaced by /ayórasen/, /ákusa/. Only one case of a stem with initial |o| occurs in the data, |orpiz| 'think, expect', and only two with initial |i|, |isionn| 'set out' and |ipofern| 'bear'. No cases of initial |u| are available. Among examples with |e| are |erx| 'come' and |erotevy| 'fall in love with' (both with passive endings). Examples of past forms are: /órpisa/ Ί expected', /isosen/ 'he set out', /ipóferen pollá/ 'he suffered a lot', /érketun/ 'he was coming', /tin erotéftin/ 'he fell in love with her'. For /ivra/ Ί found' and /ixa/ Ί had', see pp. 87-8 (V2) Place stress on the vowel which occurs at the third mora from the end of the word, or on the first vowel of one- and two-mora words. From |e + yora + s + en| we obtain |e + yóra + s + en|, from |e + ku + s + a|, |é + ku + s + a| and from |puli + 0[ Ί sell', |puli + 0 | . It may be noted that the verbs are unique among the major form classes of Cypriot Greek in that while their superficial forms are stressed they lack inherent stress, i.e., their underlying representations are unstressed. Therefore the contrast observed between such pairs as /vúra/ 'run!' and /vurá/ 'he runs' is a result of a difference in underlying 'segmental' structure (|vura + e| versus |vura + I|) and cannot be compared to that which is correlated to underlying stress differences (e.g., /ammáGka/, 'eyes', /ammaGká/ 'glance').1 (V3) In the case of a sequence of stem-final |i| or |a| and a vowel which begins a personal ending (except when this latter contains 'passive' and the stem-final vowel is |i|): (a) Delete |e| from the sequence |i + e| (b) Delete that vowel of the sequence which occurs (long or short) second in the list |o u a e i| (or the first vowel of the sequence if they are identical), transferring to the surviving vowel any stress previously located on the deleted one. The imperfective non-past active forms of (pulij 'sell' appear, after the application of V2, as Ipulí + θ | , |pulí + Is|, lpulí+I|, [pulí + umen|, ¡pulí + ete|,|puli + usin|. The imperfective past active forms are |e + púli + un|, |e + púli + es|, |e + púli + en|, 1

The morphophonemic representation of /ammáeija/ 'eyes' would be |ammáti+a|, and of /amma9jfá/ 'glance', |ammáti+ía|. An ideal minimal pair would be /forá/ 'time' versus /fora/ 'impetus* but neither is strictly dialectal: /volá/ is used for the former while /pperentés/ (as in /perno pperentén/ 'take a run before leaping' corresponds to the latter.

THE VERB

77

|e + puli + úsamen|, |e + puli + úsete|, |e + puli + úsasin|. A comparison of these representations with the phonemic ones of 3.1. shows that, apart from the case |puli + ete| (/pulite/) the intermorphemic vowel pairs 'contract' with loss of |i| before |e|, |o|, |u| and itself (or their long counterparts). A similar examination of the imperfective forms of |vura| and of |kima| indicates a more complex pattern: |a| yields to |o| and |u| but ousts |e| and |i|. It is therefore clear that the only pair of elements whose 'dominance' cannot be assessed is |o| and |u|, and that it is immaterial which way we order them in rule V3. Note that the 'contraction rule' does not apply to passives of verbs whose stems end in |i|. Thus, [pulí + ete| 'it is sold' by-passes it. A consideration of the third person forms cited in 3.1. will indicate that the segmental alternations observable at the boundary between personal ending and the preceding bare stem may be accounted for in terms of the rules stated earlier in connection with the morphophonemics of the noun. Thus, /apkéte/ is derived by yodization, /k/ anaptyxis, voiced fricative deletion and geminate vowel simplification (iules P8, P13, P22, P26) from a morphophonemic |ayapi + ete| (c.f. also /vaskéte/ from |vasti + ete|). At the boundary of the simple stem and the perfectivizer, however, we note that existing rules are inadequate to handle the alternations arising at the point of contact between stem-final consonant and the following /s/ or /Θ/. We now state how existing rules are modified or expanded and what new rules must be inserted into the sequence in order to accommodate these and other new data. (P4) This rule, which replaces jk| by |c| before front vowels, does not apply to the final |k| of verb stems: thus, /pléki/ 'she knits', /sfánki/ 'he slaughters'. Nor does it apply to the |k| of the |0ik[ allomorph of the perfectivizer (c.f. /esikóstikes/ 'you got up'). We therefore add to that part of rule P4 which affects |k| the dispensation 'except in the environment — h {personal ending}'. The part which concerns |x| does, however, apply (|éxi| 'he h a s ' - > |ési|, |víxxi| 'he coughs'-»- ¡víxsi| — |vissi|). Forms such as /8uléfki/ 'he works', /arki/ 'he is late' do not require dispensation as their underlying stems are |0ulevy| and |aryi| (see below on P21). (P16) Stop-»- fricative in the environment - dental obstruent. This enables us to get from the intermediate |epémp0in| 'he was sent' to |epémf0in|. Compare also |eplék0in| 'it was knitted' (|plek| 'knit')->- |epléx0in|, |esfánk0in| 'it was slaughtered'-> |esfánx0in|. This rule is inserted directly before the consonant cluster reduction rule (PI7), which is now expanded so as to delete the middle consonant of the three-member cluster of e.g., |évlaftsen| 'he hurt', |e8úlevysen| 'he worked'. (PI7) Consonant-> 0 in the environment fricative - sibilant. The above forms now become |évlafsen|, |e3úlevsen|.

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THE VERB

(Ρ 18) A nasal is completely assimilated to a following fricative. This rule accounts for the loss of |n| in the derivation of e.g., /esfáxtin/ 'it was slaughtered' (stem |sfank|) and in that of /epéftin/ 'he was sent'. The resulting geminate fricative is reduced by P19 if another consonant follows (|esfáxx9in| -*• |esfáx0in|) but otherwise remains; such is the case with verbs in |nisk|, e.g. |emará00in| 'it withered' (->- |emaráttin| in N. Cyprus). (P19) This rule (reducing geminates before any consonant) is expanded to state that nasals drop before a sequence of stop + sibilant; thus |épempsen| 'he sent' - > |épepsen|. (P20) Voiced fricative -*• voiceless fricative in the environment - voiceless fricative. Thus, from |exoriz0in| 'it was separated' we get |exoris0in| and from |e9úlevsen|, |e3úlefsen|. (P21) (a) Slit fricative - > stop in the environment - sibilant. (b) Dental/velar fricative —>- stop in the environment consonant - . The last-quoted form now becomes |e3úlepsen| and |évlafsen|, |évlapsen|; intermediate |évixsen| (stem |vixx|) 'he coughed' yields |éviksen|. The operation of the second part of the rule occlusivizes |0| after any consonant: |exoris0in| 'it was separated' -*• |exorístin|, |efir0in| 'he fainted' ->• [efírtinj, |esfáx0in| 'it was slaughtered'-»- |esfáxtin|. Note also the importance of this section of the rule for the dialectalization of standard forms (e.g., /avyó/ 'egg' vs. Cypriot /afkón/; see 5.5.) The common verbalizing affix |evy| as in |8ulevy| (c.f. /Siila/ 'female servant') is replaced by |evk|, (ultimately /efk/ in Mesarká by rule P28). The justification for setting up |νγ| as the underlying cluster here lies in (a) the apparent absence, apart from this, and |vt|, |yt| in underlying clusters of voiced fricative + stop and (b) the exemption of such clusters from the operation of the rule which replaces |k| by |c| before front vowels (P4). Unlike other cases of underlying |νγ|, that of the verbalizing suffix is never realized in Cyprus as /νγ/. That Crete and most islands of the Dodecanese have /evy/ for Cypriot /efk/ could, however, provide an additional argument for setting up |νγ|. 3.2.3. Specimen

Derivations

Specimen derivations are presented in illustration of the phonological rules as they affect the indicative verb forms of Cypriot Greek. The form first cited is the morphophonemic representation arrived at by applying the verb morphology rules of 3.2.1. V2 (1) 'he slaughtered' (perf. past act. 3rd sing, of |sfank|) ¡e + sfank + s + en| — > P2 P19 |é + sfank + s + en| — > |ésfanksen| >- |ésfaksen| (Jésfaksen/)

THE VERB

79

V2 (2) 'he cooked' (perf. past act. 3rd sing, of |mayirevy|) |e + mayirevy + s + en| —>P2 P17 P20 |e + mayirevy + s + en| >- |emayirevysen| —>• |emayirevsen| — ν |emayírefsen| P21 P22 ν |emayírepsen| —|emaírepsen| (/emaírepsen/) VI (3) 'he opened' (perf. past act. 3rd sing, of |anniy|) |e + anniy + s + en| > V2 P2 P20 P21 |e + nniy + s + en| *• |é + nniy + s + en| — > |énniysen| —>- |énnixsen| >|énniksen| (Jénniksen/) V2 (4) 'you were helping' (imp. past act. 2nd sing, of |tana|) |e + tana + es| *• Y3 P2 |e + tana + es| —>- |e + tána + s| — | e t á n a s | (/etánas/) V2 (5) 'they were sleeping' (imp. past pass. 3rd pi. of |kima|) |e + kima + untan | > V3 P2 P4 |e + kimá + untan| >- |e + kim + úntan| |ekimúntan| >- |ecimúntan| (/ecimúntan/) (6) 'he used to be loved' (imp. past pass. 3rd sing, of |ayapa|) |e + ayapi + etun| VI V2 P2 P8 > |e + yapi + etun| > |e + yapí + etun| y |eyapíetun| >- |eyapyetun| P9 Pi 3 P22 > |eyapyétun| — ν |eyapkétun| >- |eapkétun| (/eaplcétun/) V2 (7) 'it was separated' (perf. past pass. 3rd sing, of |xoriz|) |e + xoriz + θ + In] y PI P2 P20 |e + xoriz + θ + In| — > |e + xoriz + θ + in| > |exoríz0in| y |exoris0in| P21 *• |exorístin| (/exoristin/) (8) 'it was slaughtered' (perf. past pass. 3rd sing, of |sfank|) |e + sfank + θ + In| V2 PI P2 P16 y |e+sfánk+9+In| — > |e+sfánk+0+in| > |esfánk9in| > |esfánx0in P18 P19 P21 |esfáxx0in| > |esfáx0in| — > |esfáxtin| (/esfáxtin/) (9) 'it (was) withered' (perf. past pass. 3rd sing, of |maranisk|) |e + maran + θ + In| V2 PI P2 PI 8 > |e + marán + 0 + In| >- |e + marán + θ + in| »• |emarán0in| —>• P27 |emará00in| > |emaráttin| (/emaráttin/) (10) 'it was washed' (perf. past pass. 3rd sing, of |plinnisk|) |e + plinn + 0 + In|

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THE VERB

V2 PI P2 PI 8 > |e + plinn + θ + In| — > |e+plinn + 6 + i n | >• |eplinn0in| — | ε ρ 1 ί η θ θ ί η | P18 P19 P28 • |ερ1ίθθ0ίη| >- |eplí00in| > |eplíttin|. This case was the only one found in the data in which a rule had to be applied twice in succession. The transposition of PI8 and PI9 would avoid this but is not acceptable in view of the considerable number of cases in which PI9 simplifies geminate fricatives arising from assimilation of nasals (c.f. specimen 8). It is quite likely that |plinnisk| is to be treated as irregular (with perfective passive stem |plin|); it seems to be unique, in any case, in having |nn| in the perfective past active (/éplinnen/ 'he washed')· All other such forms represent the imperfective past (e.g., /éoinnen/ 'he was binding', /eskótonnen/ 'he was killing'). 3.2.4. Imperative Forms Most verbs possess at least one pair of imperative forms (for singular and plural). Thus, /vuró/ 'run' has /vúra/ (singular) and /vuráte/ (plural), /3ió/ Ί give' has /8ós/ and /6óste/. Verbs which may take active and passive indicative endings often possess one pair in each voice: /plínne/, /plinnete/ 'wash (something)!' and, in addition, /plittu/, /plittxte/ 'get washed!'. Finally some verbs have a perfective/ imperfective contrast in their imperatives. Informants accept, for instance, /pótize/, /potízete/ 'water!' (as a general practice) versus the commoner /pótise/, /potíste/ (with reference to one occasion). An example of contrast from the irregular verbs (see p. 88) is provided by |lali| 'speak': its imperfective imperatives /lále/, /Ialite/ mean 'start speaking!', while the perfective counterparts /pé/, /péte/ mean 'tell!', the latter usually followed by a direct or indirect object (e.g., /pé mu/ 'tell me!', /pé tin aliGkan/ 'tell the truth!'). But in most cases there is neutralization in favour of one formal aspect or the other (usually perfective in stem-stressed verbs, imperfective in ending-stressed ones); in either case the meaning is normally punctual. Thus, the singular imperatives of |pemp| 'send', |3ulevy| 'work', |3ixn| 'show' are /pépse/, /3úlepse/, /cikse/ and of |tana| 'help', |3ikla| 'look', |vasta| 'hold', /tána/, /3íkla/, /vásta/. Such forms as exist are probably best derived from the corresponding morphophonemic representations of the second person non-pasts by a transformation. This not only enables us to exploit the syntactic or collocational constraints operating on the indicative but takes advantage of the fact that formal irregularities affecting the derivation of the perfective indicative stem are carried over into the perfective imperative forms. Thus, the perfective non-past stem of /xoró/ Ί see' is |3|, and this is found both in the indicative (/3ó/, /3ís/, etc.) and in the imperative (/Sé/, /3éte/). Such a transformation replaces the non-past indicative second person endings as follows :

THE VERB

2nd sing. act. 2nd sing. pass. 2nd pi. act. 2nd pi. pass.

81

|Is| => |e| |ese| => |U|, |Is| => |u| No change No change

Typical derivations are cited : V2 (1) 'help!' (imp. act. sing, imperative of |tana|) |tana+Is| => |tana+e| — > |tána+e| V3 y |tána¡ (/tána/) (2) 'sleep!' (perf. pass. sing, imperative of |kima|) |kimi+0i+ls| => |kimi+0i+u| V2 V3 P2 P4 P30 y ¡kimí+0i+u| —>· |kimi+0+u| — > |kimí0u| >- |cimí0u| > |öimixu| (/cimíxu/) There is an optional rule which deletes the first |e| of the plural active imperative ending |ete| and the |e| of the singular active |e|; it is inserted as a rule of verb phonology after the contraction rule (Y3) : (V4) (a) Delete the first |e| of the plural active imperative morpheme |ete| in the environment after vowel and |I|, |r|, or |s|. (b) Delete |e| of the singular active imperative morpheme |e| in the environment ΊΊ r - # unstressed object pronoun or definite article. _s_ Ex. /pulisete/->• /puliste/ 'sell!'(pl.) /afísete/-> /afiste/ 'leave alone!' (pi.) /férete to 3amé/ - > /férte to 3amé/ 'bring it here!' (pi.) /fére to/ /fér to/ 'bring it!' /3óse tu to/ —>- /8ós tu to/ 'give it him!' For /vár to/ (|vale # to|) and /3óm mu/ (|3óse # mu|), see p. 86. Note that the rule is inapplicable where a consonant cluster precedes the ending: /yrápse mu/ 'write to me!', /yrápsete to/ 'write it!'/ There are two types of residual irregularity : (1) The imperatives /ánu/, pl. /anúte/ 'get up!' and /ússu/ /ússu/) pl. /ussúte/ 'be quiet!' are the only members of their paradigms. (2) The following imperatives imply the truncated stems: |3akka|, |xamila|, |psila|, |siku|: /5ákka/ ~ /ákka/ 'bite!' (indicative /(3)akkánnis/ 'you bite'), /xamila/ 'turn down (lamp)!' (/xamilónnis/ 'you turn down'), /psila/ 'turn up!' (/psilónnis/ 'you turn up') /síku/, pi. /sikúte/ 'get up!' (/sikónnese/, pl. /sikónneste/ 'you get up'. The loss of |e| in this form also occurs in /áku/, /akúte/ 'listen!'.

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THE VERB

3.2.5. Participles In addition to the system of finite forms, some Cypriot verbs possess a participle in /-os/, inflected like an adjective, with intransitive meaning in the case of verbs whose finite forms function intransitively (e.g., /ppesúmenos/ 'fallen' < /ppéfto/ Ί fall', /postaménos/ 'tired' < /postékume/ Ί am tired') and with passive meaning when the underlying finite forms are transitive in meaning. Examples of the latter type are /kripsúmenos/ 'hidden' < /krífko/ Ί hide' and, with the same meaning, /xozménos/ < /xónno/. The only verb in the data which is passive in form but may take a direct object is /lipúme/ Ί am sorry for ', and its participle /lipiménos/ 'sad' is intransitive. The justification for labelling these forms participles rather than deverbal adjectives is that they may enter into construction with certain types of prepositional phrase typically associated with the underlying finite forms. Thus, /em pempámenos pu ton círin tu/ 'he's been-sent by his father' is conveniently regarded as a transformation of /epéftim pu ton èirin tu/ 'he-was-sent by his father'. The term 'deverbal adjective' is best reserved for the very few adjectives in -/tós/ which may be traced to verbal roots (e.g., /psitós/ 'cooked' < /psínno/, /stitós/ 'standing' < /stékume/, /vuritós/ 'running' < /vuró/). Such verbs as possess participial forms seem to derive them according to one of three distinct rules : (1) {Verb stem} + |s| 'perfectivizer' + |úmeno| + {case-number-gender} Examples are /ppesúmenos/, /kripsúmenos/ above. The affixation of the |s| form of the perfectivizer obeys the same rules as in the indicative; /ppéfto/ 'fall' is irregular (see p. 85). This type would seem to be productive and characteristic of dialectal speech. (2) {Verb stem} + |ámeno| + {case-number-gender} The form /pempámenos/ 'sent', quoted above, is associated with non-standardizing speech, as are /3inámenos/ 'powerful' and /ssepámenos/ 'covered' ( < /Sinume/, obsolescent for 'be able', /ssépo/ 'cover'), /filámenos/ 'guarded' (as in /ési tin kórin tu filámenin úlli mèra./ 'he keeps his daughter under lock and key all day') seems to be based on a truncated /fil/ (/filásso/ Ί guard'). (3) {Verb stem} + |méno| + {case-number-gender} Many of the forms of this type which occur in the data carry indications that they are borrowings of standard origin. Thus, /katilciménos/ 'inhabited' has the nondialectal sequence /ki/ and the stylistically elevated lexical item /katikó/ for the usual /minísko/. /pliroménos/ 'paid' occurs in a recorded text and may be contrasted with the normal finite /pkerónno/. However, other cases are based on verbs which are specifically Cypriot (or at least non-standard) for the particular sense. The usual term for 'crazy' is /laomménos/ ( < /laónno/ Ί drive crazy'; c.f. standard /lavóno/ Ί wound'). 'Fiancé' (standard /aravonyastikós/) is /xartoménos/ ( < /xartónno/). The divergent derivations of the last two probably reflect the miscellaneous provenance of this third class of participle; compare also /xozménos/ 'hidden' < /xónno/

THE VERB

83

'hide' (standard meaning 'stick, plunge in'). While the data do not permit the establishment of useful rules (and if they did it would still be necessary to indicate in the lexicon which affix, if any, each item selects) it appears that in this group stem-final consonants other than /z/ usually assimilate completely to the initial /m/ of the affix; illustrations are /tilimménos/ 'wrapped up' (stem |tiliy|), /pexamménos/ 'dead' (|pe9anisk| ~ |pe0an|), /annimménos/ 'opened' (|anniy|), but /xorizménos/ 'separated' (|xoriz|). 3.2.6. |i| - Prothesis Those verb stems which commence with a geminate, a voiced sibilant or a heterogeneous consonant cluster other than one consisting of a stop + sonant sequence prefix |i| - when immediately preceded in the same intonation group by the pronouns /ton/, /tin/, /tis/, /tes/, the negative particles /én/, /mén/, or the conjunction /an/ 'if'. As word-final nasals (a) assimilate completely to word initial voiced sibilants, which do not partake in geminate/ simple contrasts, (b) assimilate completely to the initial phoneme of two-member clusters whose first member is a continuant, thus creating a geminate which is subsequently simplified by rule P19 and (c) drop before geminate stops and sequences of stop + sibilant, this rule has the effect of preserving the contrast between sequences in which one of the prothesizing clusters is preceded by vowel + nasal and one in which it is preceded by vowel. In particular, the prothesis rule preserves the contrast between /ton/ and /to/ in constructions such as /enna ton iskotóso/ Ί shall kill him' versus /enna to skotóso/ Ί shall kill it' (referring to a noun of neuter gender). A few illustrations follow: 2 /enna ton iftáso/ Ί shall reach him' (/ftánno/ Ί reach') /na tes izitísun/ 'let them seek for them' (/zitó/ Ί seek') /en impori/ 'he can't' (/mporó/ Ί can') /men ippésis/ 'don't fall!' (/ppéfto/ Ί fall') /na ton ip^erósis/ 'pay him!' (/pkerónno/ Ί pay') 3.2.7. - |te| Forms An extended form |umente| of the active non-past first plural personal ending |umen| occurs several times in the data. There are four instances in text 7.4.5.: /na karterúmente/ 'let's wait' /na se kámumente afentikó/ 'let's make you chief' /na tes klépsumente/ 'let's steal them' /usSúte empa ce púmente tu típote/ 'be quiet in case we say anything to him' 2

Certain verbs prothesize |e| occasionally: thus /én ekséro/ Ί don't know', /én empor ó/ Ί cannot', /an eptfís/ 'if you drink', /én epsinnete/ 'it's not getting cooked', /na mén efkúsin/ 'so they won't go out'. Menardos (1894, p. 168) localizes |e|- prothesis in Paphos, but the author's data, limited though they are, do not support such a claim for current dialects.

84

THE VERB

This bears out the statement by Menardos (1925, p. 38) that the form is characteristic .of 'deliberative questions' and generally of constructions introduced by /na/ and /as/ Compare also /na tu pépsumente/ 'let's send to him' and /éla pámente/ 'come let's go'. However ordinary declarative instances do occur in the data (e.g., /suppónumente/ 'we are wet'). There is a point of phonological interest : this would seem to be the only case of an inflected form in general use in Cypriot Greek 3 to which the stress assignment rule does not apply, i.e., post-tonic vowels number three whereas the rules N2 and V2 permit a maximum of two. This is perhaps a reason for regarding |te| as an enclitic particle meaning 'jussive' which is separated from its verb by word boundary, as are the other enclitics (i.e., the unstressed object pronouns). 3.2.8. Imperfective Stems in - \nn\

Certain oxytone verbs possess an imperfective stem in -/inn/, which occurs optionally in the imperfective past and in the imperative. The data contain /eciniinnen/ 'he was hunting' (|kiniya¡), /eparpátinnen/ 'he was walking' (|parpata|), and /eyélinnes/ 'you were laughing' (|yela|), /Górinne/ 'look!' (|0ori|), /kúmpinne/ 'lean!' (|kumpa|). 3.2.9. Residual

Irregularities

There are certain alternations in the underlying phonological forms of various verbs which cannot easily be accounted for by modifications and expansions of existing rules, although the alternations often affect groups of stems rather than single items. 3.2.9.0. Certain stem-stressed veibs, whose stem ends in a vowel or -|nn|, have an alternant in |z|, which occurs before the |θ|- initial forms of the perfectivizer (i.e., in the perfective passive sub-paradigms). Among the commonest are /akúo/ Ί hear' (/ekústika/ Ί was heard'), /sikónno/ Ί raise' (/esikóstika/ Ί got up'), /krónnume/ Ί hear' (/ekróstika/ Ί heard'). 3.2.9.1. Certain verbs whose non-perfective stem ends in |ss| have an alternant in |x|, |γ| or |k| which occurs before the perfectivizer. Illustrations are |tarass| ~ |tarax| (e.g., /etáraksen/'he moved',/etaráxtin/'it was moved'), |arpass| ~ |arpay| (e.g., /érpaksen/ 'he seized', /erpáxtin/ 'it was seized'), |filass| ~ |filak| (e.g., /efilaksen/ 'he guarded', 3

/érkumastin/ and /érfcesastin/ were quoted by informants in Yalusa (Karpas) as possible 1st and 2nd plural imperfective past forms of /érkume/ Ί come', but while other informants do not regard such accentuation unnatural the actual items cannot be confirmed.

85

THE VERB

/efiláxtin/ 'he was guarded')· The choice of |x|, |γ| or |k| is determined not by the morphophonemics of the verb itself, which yield identical results for all three segments, but by the underlying forms of cognates. For the above items, we have |taraxi| (/tarasí/ 'disturbance'), |arpáyi| (/arpáin/ 'hook'), |filakí| (/filarci/ 'prison', c.f. also /filakas/ 'guard'). In other cases, lack of a cognate makes the choice arbitrary; this would seem to be tiue of /pnásso/ Ί rest', /vrísso/ Ί am quiet' (stem |friss|, usually in /vrikse/ 'shut up!'), /résso/ Ί go by', /mpisso/ Ί squeeze in', /petásso/ Ί fly'. 3.2.9.2. Miscellaneous types of irregular alternation occur between the bare stem and 'perfective stem' (i.e., stem + perfectivizer). Some of the commonest cases are listed (see Table 27). The irregularity of group (a) consists in its failure to observe rule VM4, which replaces stem-final |a| by |i| before the perfectivizer. Thus, /pino/ 'I'm hungry': TABLE

27

Miscellaneous Types of Irregular Alternation in Verbs

bare stem

stem + perfectivizer

meaning

(a)

1 pina 1 1 Tela 1 1 perna | 1 yerna |

1 pinas 1 1 yelas | 1 peras | 1 yeras |

'be hungry' 'laugh' 'pass' 'grow old'

(b)

1 1 1 1

1 kales | 1 lamnis | 1 ppes 1 1 rips 1

'invite' 'go' 'fall' 'throw'

(c)

1 ma69ann | 1 paGenn | 1 tixenn | 1 sintixann | 1 katalavenn |

1 ma0 1 1 pa0 1 Itixl 1 sintix 1 1 katalav |

'learn, teach' 'suffer' 'it happens' 'talk' 'understand'

(d)

1 fevY 1

Ifiyl

'go away'

(e)

1 vail 1 1 vyall |

1 val 1 1 vyal 1

'put, put on' 'take off, take out'

kali 1 lamn | ppeft 1 rixn 1

86

THE VERB

/epínasa/ Ί became, have become hungry'. The only verb in this set for which a passive is documented is /yeló/; its forms /yelyúme/ Ί am deceived', /yelyéte/ 'he is deceived' etc., show that rule VM4 is not suspended before the non-perfective passive. The perfective passive stem is apparently |yelaz| (e.g., /eyelástin/ 'he was deceived'). Group (b) verbs have sigmatic aorists of diverse types of irregularity: e.g., /lámne sto kalón/ literally 'go to the good thing', the usual wish for one departing: /elámnisen/ 'he went'. In group (c), |katalav| is often used in the non-past without the usual particle of futurity (/enna/) or subordination (/na/) in a present sense (c.f. on /paénno/ Ί go', below). Thus, /kataláis to/ 'get it?'. The paradigm of |maG0ann| displays superficial irregularity considerably greater than is apparent from the underlying forms of the stem: /mattánno/ Ί learn', but /émaxa/ Ί learnt'. Similarly with |fevy| in group (d): /féfki/ 'he goes away', but /éfien/ 'he left'. The final group provides unique evidence for the operation across word boundaries of rule P6, which replaces |1| by |r| before consonant. Thus intermediate jvále # to| 'put it' is replaced as a result of the imperative rule (V4) by |vál # to| and this by |vár # to| (/vár to/). Similarly 'take your coat off' is ¡fkár tos sákkos su./ (|vyále + ton + sákkon + su|). 3.2.9.3. Two verbs have a sigmatic aorist in free fluctuation with one in |k|: (a) |afinn| : |afik| ~ |afis] 'leave alone'. Thus, 'he left (it)' is either /éfiken/ or /éfisen/. In the imperative (for which |afis| is obligatorily selected), |f| usually drops: /ais to/, pi. /aiste to/ 'leave it!'; (b) |0ia| ~ |oi8a| : |3ok| ~ |3os| 'give'. As with the previous item the imperative is obligatorily sigmatic: /3ós/, pl. /Sòste/; /3ómmu/ 'give me!' is the only case in the data of complete assimilation of |s| to |m|. In the indicative, as with /afinno/, |k| and |s| forms of the perfective active tenses are in apparently free variation although |k| is perhaps commoner in village idiolects (e.g., /éokem mu to/ 'he gave it me', /na tu óko/ 'let me give him'). The postulation of two underlying forms of the imperfective stem accounts for the observed fluctuation in the non-past and past imperfective between e.g. /01 |aneví + umen| — > |anev + úmen|). |pír| is like |ρίγ| in that it has inherent stress. Miscellaneous examples of superficial forms are: /empâte/ 'come in!, (pl.), /éfka/ 'go out!' (sing.), /fj^énni/ 'he comes out', /enna fjd/ 'he will come out' /ekatéin/ 'he came down', /epiren/ 'he took', /épar to/ 'take it!', /ivres/ 'you found', /enna ton évro/ Ί shall find him', /vré to/ 'find it!'. 3.2.9.6. The verbs |ziij 'live' and |ksii| 'scrape' drop their final |i| before the perfectivizer: Miscellaneous examples are /ζό/ Ί live', /ksi/ 'he scrapes', /ézen/ 'he used to live', /ézisen/ 'he lived', /enna ksiso/ Ί shall scrape'.

88

THE VERB

3.2.9.7. |yinisk| 'become' occurs only with passive endings and drops |isk| before the perfectivizer in the normal way but is irregular in that its perfectivizer lacks initial |θ|. Thus: /yiniskete/ 'he becomes', /eyiniken/ ~ /eyinin/ 'he became' (or /einin/, see p. 97). Its non-past perfective forms are /yenó/, /yenís/, /yení/, etc. 3.2.9.8. At least three verbs do not occur with the perfectivizer: |ex| 'have', |kser| ~ |ksevr| 'know', |0el| 'want'. This aspectual neutralization is assumed to be in favour of the imperfective partly on formal grounds (there is no overt realization of the perfectivizer) and partly on semantic (e.g., all occur with /pánta/ 'always'). In the case of |0el|, a rare /exélisen/ 'he wanted' proves the identification. |ex| has an allomorph |ix| in the past. Miscellaneous examples are: /ési/ 'he has', /isen/ 'he had', ¡én ikséro./ Ί don't know', /ékseren/ 'he knew', /éxela/ Ί wanted'. 3.2.9.9. There are three verbs with suppletive perfective stems: |0ori|, |ίθ[ (|3| in non-past) 'see', |lali|, |ip| (|p| in non-past) 'say' and |troy| ~ |tro|, |fay| ~ (fa], 'eat'. The uniconsonantal stems are perhaps the only cases of 'portmanteau' morph within the underlying structure. Thus, the underlying [0| of /enna θό/ Ί shall see' represents 'see' and {perfectivizer}; the alternant /enna ó/ shows a superficial single phoneme representing three morphemes ('non-past, active, first person, singular' in addition to the above two). The first person singular of the perfective past of |lali| is /ípun/ ~ /ipa/. The alternant of |troy| ~ |tro| without |γ| is confined to the non-past plural forms giving the complete tense /tróo, trois, trói, trómen, tròte, trósin/. Further examples are: ¡én exóren./ 'he could not see', ¡én íen./ 'he did not see', /lalí mu/ 'he says to me', ¡fá to./ 'eat it!', /lalí mu/, as the stock marker of direct quotation is often unstressed. Thus, /lali mu èia./ 'he says to me "come on!'" (i.e., there is no rise from low pitch until /èia/). 3.2.9.10. Of the common media tantum verbs, |stek| 'stand' has the perfective stem |sta0ik|, |stref| 'return' has |strafik|, and |antrep| 'be ashamed' has |antrap|. Thus, /stéjjete/ 'he stands', /estáxin/ 'he stood'. |erx| 'come', the commonest, is also the most irregular. Its perfective stems take only active endings and are three in number, |ir0| (past), |er0| (non-past), |ela| (imperative). Thus, /èrgete/ 'he comes', /érketun/ 'he was coming', /irten/ 'he came', /an érti/ 'if he comes', /èia/ 'come!'. /káOume/ Ί sit' has the past /ékatsa/.

89

THE VERB

3.2.9.11. The full paradigm of /ime/ Ί am' is as follows: TABLE

29

The Paradigm of jimej '/ am'

1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd

pers. pers. pers. pers. pers. pers.

sing. sing. sing. pi. pi. pi.

non-past

past

ime íse em ~ en imaston isastin em ~ en

imun ìsun ítun ~ ítan imaston isastin ítun ~ ítan

/eni/ occurs only before intonation; /en/, as well as the other forms with final /n/ follow the usual rules of nasal assimilation (6.3.1.). Standardizing speakers may have exclusively /ítan/ but it seems to occur in most idiolects in free variation with /ítun/. The first and second plural forms cited here are thought to be usual in Mesarká villages but, there and elsewhere, /on/, /in/ and /an/ seem to be freely interchangeable in the last syllable. Except under sentence stress (usually when they are the unique constituent of an intonation-group), the forms of the copula are usually unstressed, /eni/ does not seem to occur as a complete utterance, although /én eni./ 'it's not' is apparently possible. 3.2.9.12. Verbs which contain within their stems a sequence of |i| + vowel apply rule P4 before assigning stress by V2. This might seem better than to recognize |y| in the morphophonemic representation itself, as such a |y| would be unique to these forms and would often be in alternation with |i| in other constructions containing the same morpheme. Thus, /isónno/ Ί set out' is probably to be related to /isa/ 'straight on', for which we set up |isia|, and /rizáno/, a culinary term meaning 'mix in' (e.g., butter with flour) would seem to be related to /rizin/ 'rice'. /épfcasen/ 'he took' (stem |piann|) would be derived as follows on the present hypothesis : P8 V2 P2 P13 | e + p i a + s + e n | —> | e + p y a + s - f en| —y | é + p y a + s + e n | —ν |épyasen| —>- |épkasen| Other stems in this class are |xliáz| 'slip' (e.g., /éylyasen/ 'he slipped'), |miaz| 'resemble' (e.g., /émyazen/ 'he resembled'), |3ia| 'give' (e.g., /éGkan/ = |e + 3ia + en| 'he was giving'). Perhaps |ipi|, the perfective past stem of |pinn| 'drink' comes into

90

THE VERB

this category (and also fails to observe the contraction rule). Thus, 'we drank' is /ipfcamen/ instead of expected */ipkámen/ (Jipi - f amen|). Its non-past perfective and imperative forms lack initial |i| : /pfcé/ 'drink', /xélo na pkó/ Ί want to drink'. Note that this reordering of rules only applies in cases other than |ipi| within stems, not at their boundaries. Thus, stress is assigned to |ayapi + ete| 'he is loved' before yodization, yielding ultimately /apjcéte/.

4 LOCAL VARIATION

4.0. INTRODUCTION

Certain of the rules whose operation is described in Chapters 2 and 3, and which are collected in Chapter 6, are suspended or replaced in specifiable areas outside the Mesarká region whose speech has formed the basis of the description presented thus far. There are, furthermore, local variations for which the setting up of additional rules is required. Finally, certain local variations can best be handled in terms of an assumption of areally defined fluctuation in the underlying phonological form itself. Chapter 4 indicates some of the more striking types of local variation which were observed to occur under these rubrics and embodies a rudimentary dialect atlas for the features discussed. When there is some doubt as to whether a given type of fluctuation is correlated to area or to style, it is discussed here; specifically stylistic variation is described in Chapter 5. The names of the 128 villages used as the basis of the survey are listed in the Appendix and their location can be determined by searching for their code number on map 1. The survey reported in this chapter was carried out during the first half of 1963, but in view of the lack of reliable information on the dialect geography of Cypriot Greek and the consequent ignorance as to what features showed areal variation and what features were universal throughout Cyprus, there was a delay of about two months in establishing the version of the questionnaire which is used as the basis of the present chapter. Of more than 250 original items designed to provide phonological information, many had by then been discarded as presumed on preliminary investigation to be constant everywhere. 160 were retained, 132 of them forming the basis for the present chapter, and some of the remaining 28 being referred to in 5.5. In addition, various items concerned basically with lexical variation were retained but are not included in the present study. Of the 132 items, 58 were used at every point; omissions, which usually occurred because the items had been added later on in the preliminary period and the villages in question were not revisited, are listed in the Appendix, as are details of possible interest to dialect geographers rather than to general readers. The remaining 74 items, which were designed to supplement the data from the 'stock items', were used on

92

LOCAL VARIATION

the average at about 40% of the points visited. Finally, much incidental material was provided by informants' comments, and especially by overheard conversation. The informants were almost all male adults, older men being preferred where possible. Most were peasants ; hardly any of them had had more than elementary education and many of those over 60 were illiterate. Interviews were practically always carried out in one of the village cafés, and in most cases several men cooperated; there was no set method of elicitation. Most informants answered readily and, as far as could be ascertained, reliably; in other cases, when a certain resistance to the citation of other than standardizing forms was apparent, considerable probing and the presentation of a choice of responses was found necessary. The stock items are cited at the head of the appropriate section; the supplementary ones are listed in the Appendix. In drawing up the maps the following principles were observed : (1) Where alternative responses were provided, and one represented Standard Demotic, the other represented Cypriot Greek, or one was standard Cypriot, the other local Cypriot, the latter alternative is recorded in each case. (2) Isolated responses inconsistent with those given elsewhere in the area and gaps in the data are documented in the Appendix, but ignored in the maps (i.e., data are in such cases extrapolated so as to yield continuous areas). All the 128 points were actually visited, except for the mountain village Kambos (32), which had by 1963 been resettled in the plain; information was provided in this case by an ex-inhabitant.

4.1. LOCAL VARIATION IN EXISTING PHONOLOGICAL RULES 4.1.0. Obstruent

+ |y| Clusters (PI3)

The stock questionnaire items are first listed under the various types of obstruent + |y| clusters which arise during the generation of superficial forms from the underlying phonological forms (as these latter are after morpheme boundary deletion). The underlying phonological form, the Mesarká realization and the meaning are given in each case. |py| was found to yield, in addition to /p^c/, /p§/ in North Paphos, /] |rissa|; see note on 4.1.0. in Appendix, p. 179). These rules are placed anywhere after P21 so as to prevent incorrect generation of *|ps|, *|pz| from transposed |fs|, |vz|. 4.2.1. Loss of Intervocalic |s|

In western Cyprus, the intervocalic |s| of the perfectivizer (and of the |us| prefixed to the past active plural morphemes in the imperfective forms of verbs with underlying stems in final |i| and |a|) is replaced by /x/ (only by speakers who consistently use glot-

104

LOCAL VARIATION TABLE 40

Loss of Intervocalic |s| underlying phonological form 43. 44. 45.

1 epótisen [ 1 nna # ton # iskotóso | 1 épyasen |

Mesarká realization

meaning

/epótisen/ /nna ton iskotóso/ /épkasen/ ~ /épkaen/

'he watered' 'I'll kill him' 'he took'

tal friction for this phoneme) or by zero (see map 11). No evidence was found for the loss or replacement of intervocalic |s| elsewhere in the verb paradigm (e.g., in /érkesun/ 'you were coming', /paénnusin/ 'they go'). Nor was the phenomenon observed in other parts of speech. One informant (at 28 ; see Appendix for the name of this village) stated, however, that /méa/ (|mésa| 'inside') could 'still be heard' and one (at 12; see Appendix) cited /méxa/, again with an observation implying it to be obsolescent. This item, as well as |esúni| 'you' and |kámposa| 'plenty' were presented throughout the area which had /x/ or zero for the perfectivizer, but no evidence could be found for the deletion or replacement of |s| (although Menardos, 1925, p. 42, reports /kámpoa/). It is therefore clear that the modern dialects of Cypriot Greek do not possess a general rule for the deletion of intervocalic |s|.6 The stock item |épyasen| 'he took' was realized consistently with items 43 and 44 (see Table 40) within the areas in which the perfectivizer was deleted or replaced by |x|. In addition it occurred, nearly always in competition with a 'sigmatic' variant, in most of North Cyprus with |s| deletion. The extent of these realizations (/épkaen/, /éfkaen/, /ékaen/, /ékkaen/) is given in map 11. The Karpas peninsula has /ék:axen/ in fluctuation with /ékaen/, as do other points on the periphery of the area with zero. Although this rule is not strictly speaking a general phonological one, we label it for convenience SI3 and state it as follows: (513) |s| 'perfectivizer'-> 0 in the environment V - V 4.2.2. Anaptyctic |A;| Rule P8 exempts sequences of stop + |r| + |i| + vowel from the yodization which is normal for prevocalic |i|. In northern Paphos and Karpas (see map 12), there is evidence of a rule immediately preceding P8 (thus obviating the need for the above exemption) which develops |k| at the point of hiatus: (514) Insert |k| in the environment stop + |r[ + |i| - vowel 6

Loss of intervocalic /s/ in verbs is very widespread and, at least in the case of southern dialects, usually attributed to dissimilatory loss in forms such as /poti(s)is/ with subsequent generalization. See, for example, H. Pernot, La dissimilation du Σ intervocalique dans les dialectes néo-grecs (Paris, 1905).

105

LOCAL VARIATION TABLE 41

Anaptyctic |Ar| underlying phonological form 46. 47. 48.

1 kriás ! 1 krióti I 1 kopriá I

meaning

Mesarká realization /kriás/ /krióti/ /kopriá/

'meat' 'cold weather' 'manure'

The test items were presented at all points in western and north-eastern Cyprus (i.e., at all points which preliminary investigation indicated were relevant to the establishment of the isogloss). It will be seen from the map that /kopriká/ occurs most widely, followed by /krikóti/, while /krikás/ is confined to the extreme northern tips of the island. It is tempting to relate this phenomenon to the rule replacing |y| by |k| after |r| (P13b). Thus, by adding a rule for |i| anaptyxis, we may generate /krikóti/ in the following sort of way: |krióti|-> [kryóti | —>- |krkóti|—> jkrikóti [. Such an account would enable us to explain not only the /k/ of /krikás/ but the fact of a standard /kréas/ in competition with both this and /kriás/ : P7 P8 P9 PI 3 /kréas/ — > /krías/ — > /kryas/ > /kryás/ >• /krkás/ *• /krikás/ As for general Cypriot /kriás/ we may note that, as there is no rule dropping intervocalic /k/, we could introduce it into the above sequence by writing [kriás] as /kryás/, seeing that /y/ : /if contrast is there neutralized. In that case, the adjective [kriós] 'cold' could be similarly written /kryós/ and derived from an underlying |krios| (c.f. standard /krios/). No evidence was found for /krikós/ 'cold' or for /trikón/ 'three' (gen. pl.), the latter cited by Menardos (1894, p. 164).

4.3. L O C A L V A R I A T I O N I N U N D E R L Y I N G P H O N O L O G I C A L

FORM

4.3.0. Interchange of |v, Θ, y| TABLE 4 2

Interchange of |v, 3, j | underlying phonological form (6) 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54.

1 ta # Sóntia | ~ | ta # yóntia 1 ~ | ta # vóntia | 1 to # 9óman | ~ | to # yóman | ~ | to # vornan | 1 i # 0ulía 1 ~ 1 i # Yulia \ ~ \ i # vulia | 1 to # 0amálin | ~ | to # yamálin | 1 nna # se # 9ero | ~ | nna # se # yéro | 1róva 1 ~ 1róya | 1 ku9élla | ~ | kuvélla |

meaning 'the teeth' 'the roof' 'the work' 'the bull' 'I'll spank you' 'grape' 'ewe'

106

LOCAL VARIATION

Word-initial voiced slit fricatives are interchangeable in certain common words. Map 13 indicates the distribution of the various realizations of 'the teeth'. The form /ta Sónica/ was found to occur everywhere in Cyprus but in addition, informants from villages in the northern and western parts of the island cited alternative forms /yónka/, /ónka/ and /vónka/. Because such variation is confined to a few words, and because there is only limited consistency in the replacement pattern applicable within this set of words at any given village, it seems best to assume that in addition to a standard Cypriot underlying form |3óntia|; many speakers have |yóntia| or |vóntia|. Whether an underlying |óntia| is required is a different matter; most informants who cited /ónka/ also mentioned a pronunciation with voiced fricative, and it is possible that /ónka/ is always to be derived by applying the intervocalic voiced fricative deletion rule to |3óntia| or |yónka| (see p. 97). In addition to the above item, three other stock items indicated |θ| ~ |γ| alternation between underlying forms. The 'general' form for the typical flat roof of the Cypriot house is |oóman|, and everywhere /to Soman/ was said to be a possible pronunciation, /to yóman/ however occurred as an alternative throughout the greater part of the island and /to óman/ in North Paphos (see map 14). In general, |i # 3ulia| 'the work' and [to # 3amálin| 'the bull'had forms with velar fricative or vowel onsets whose distribution followed that of the various forms of 'the roof' ; but /i oulyá/ occurred in the Kyrenia mountains in villages for which /to yóman/ was cited and /to yamálin/ was reported even more widely than /to yóman/, many informants volunteering by way of explanation an etymology which related it to /yamó/ Ί fornicate', (the replacement of |3| by |y| in other items being however attributed to lack of teeth, Turkish origin of speaker or 'ignorance'). This fluctuation of underlying |3| and |y| also affects the verb whose general form is |3érno| Ί hit, spank'; the common threat 'I'll spank you' occurs as /nna se 3éro/ in central Cyprus, but as /nna se yéro/ elsewhere (see map 15). The loss of initial |3| and |y|, which affects many words (4.1.1.), could not be found for this item. Map 16 indicates the distribution of /róva/ ~ /róa/ 'grape' (single piece of fruit as opposed to /stafilin/ 'grapes in general'and /knizin/ 'bunch of grapes'). Rather than set up a unique |róva|, which would delete its fricative only in Paphos and the Eastern promontories, we prefer to recognize two underlying forms, |róva[ and |róya|, and to make use of the fact that |y| is deleted intervocalically more readily than |v|. The first alternative would imply that suspension of voiced fricative deletion is in this case geographically determined, while elsewhere it is stylistic or, insofar as it can be located geographically, centred in Troodos (4.1.1.). The interpretation accepted here is confirmed by the existence of a standardizing /roya/. Information was not solicited as to whether in the meaning 'nipple' parallel fluctuation occurred, although one or two informants volunteered statements suggesting that it was. |3| ~ |v| fluctuation was found word-medially in the item |ku3élla| - |kuvélla| 'ewe' ; in most cases, however, it was not possible to identify the postulated underlying form as it had been operated on by the rule which drops intervocalic voiced fricatives (P22), and elicita-

LOCAL

107

VARIATION

tion in such cases of alternative pronunciations produced either contradictory responses or observations about what was said elsewhere. The form /kuvélla/ was cited in the Kyrenia mountains and /kuSélla/ on Troodos. Most of the rest of the island had /kuélla/.

4.3.1. \xóris\for

\fóris\

TABLE 4 3

\xóris\ for

55.

(16)

\fóris\

underlying phonological form

meaning

I fóris # to I ~ I xóris # to | I fóvos I

'put it on!' 'fear'

/fóris to/ 'put (cap, etc.) on!' (c.f. standard /fóres to/) was reported to have a common alternative /xóris to/ in many parts of the island (see map 17); |fóvos| 'fear' never appeared with /x/, nor did supplementary items |to #fós| 'the light' or |forá9a| 'mare'. In contradistinction to the case of |θ|, there would therefore seem to be no reason for setting up a general rule replacing |f| by |x|; however, the supplementary item |fér to| 'bring it' was occasionally cited as /xér to/ and forms of 'since' seem to be heard with /x/, although the item was not included in the questionnaire (e.g., /axú/, /axútis/, /axis/ for standard /afu/). /xakkó/ occurs in a text from South Paphos for /fakkó/ Ί hit' (text 7.3.0.) as does, in the same text, /áxiken/ for |áfiken| 'he left' and /exáan/ for |efáyan| 'they ate', /staxilin/ appears for /stafilin/ 'grapes' in one from North Paphos (7.2.0.) and /xumizume/ Ί boast' fluctuates with /fumizume/ at least in and around Nicosia.

4.3.2. ' / am in a hurry' 56. |viázume| ~ |3iázume| Ί am in a hurry'. The various realizations of this item (see map 18) imply at least two underlying forms: |viázume| in the West and |8iázume| in the East. The former will then yield by normal rules /fkázume/ (as in central Cyprus) or, with the suspension of optional rules, which is characteristic of standardizing speech /viázume/. This particular item does not on the face of it seem a likely candidate for such suspension, but it is probably significant that several informants in the /viázume/ area remarked that /aninkázume/ (unknown to informants in Nicosia and the East) was a more usual synonym. As to the forms /Gkázume/ and /lcázume/, in general the former was cited in villages which realized |9y| as /0k/ and the latter in those which realized it as /k/.

108

LOCAL

VARIATION

4.3.2. 'Barley' and 'Goat' TABLE

44

'Barley' anJ

57. 58.

'GW

underlying phonological form

meaning

I kri09arin | ~ | kli60árin | ~ | kriGárin | ~ | kirGárin | I tsúros I ~ I tsiros |

'barley' 'goat'

The distribution of the forms of 'barley' (map 19) which contain /ΘΘ/ or /tt/ follows that of |pe90erá| ('mother-in-law', map 7). In addition to this point of difference there is also a /kl/ : /kr/ contrast in the West (but /kr/ and /tt/ do not co-occur). Paphos furthermore has intervocalic /x/ for /ΘΘ/. It is tempting to set up |kri6árin| for the latter so as to reduce the underlying fluctuation in the consonant flanked by |i| and |a| to one between geminate and simple |θ|, but no realization with /Θ/ was found, although the replacement of |θ| by |x| is optional elsewhere. Rizokarpasso (128) quoted /cirtárin/; for this, |kir9árin| could be set up and its relation to |kri0árin| would then be analogous to that between standard /káltsa/ 'sock', /vúrtsa/ 'brush' and dialectal /klátsa/, /vrútsa/. Map 19 also locates the isogloss which demarcates the majority of villages, which say /tsúros/ for 'goat', from those in Karpas which have /tsiros/. Feminine forms are /tsúra/, /tsíra/.

5 STANDARD FORMS

5.0. INTRODUCTION

The style of speech described in the body of the present study is /xorkátika/, and many village speakers have idiolects which approach fairly closely to the various regional varieties of /xorkátika/ whose features have been sketched. However, apart from the quite considerable gap between village dialects and the strongly standardizing speech of urban Cypriots, /xorkátika/ itself is often not heard in a 'pure' foim, but is interspersed with elements most conveniently regarded as belonging to standard Greek - here used as a blanket term for what are admittedly distinct dialects but referring basically to the style of speech current among educated Athenians, itself an admixture of mainland vernaculars (perhaps mostly Peloponnesian) and kaíharévusa. These standardizing elements involve either (a) replacement of underlying form or (b) modification (usually, as will be shown, suspension) of the unasterisked ('optional') rules of 6.2. Section 5.1. indicates very crudely the measure of lexical divergence between Cypriot Greek and standard Greek; the rest of the chapter indicates the more important types of rule suspension which standardizing tendencies entail.

5.1. UNDERLYING FORM REPLACEMENT

Certain instances of interdialectal variation within Cypriot Greek were attributed to areally determined fluctuation in the underlying phonological form of lexical elements (e.g., /tsúros/ ~ /tsiros/ 'goat') and it is possible that certain cases of fluctuation in grammatical morphemes (such as those referred to in the presentation of the paradigm of /ime/ Ί am', p. 89) are correlated with locality. The cases discussed so far concern cognates whose relationships cannot easily be brought under a simple set of rules; there are other cases of variation between local dialects which involve correspondences between non-cognate forms (e.g., /káos/ ~ /sikla/ ~ /kertéllin/ 'bucket'). Much more frequently, fluctuation between underlying forms opposes a dialectal lexical,

110

STANDARD

FORMS

or grammatical item (which may or may not be common Cypriot) to a standard one. In the case of lexical items the phonological relationships are often such as characterize non-cognates (c.f. standard /kuvás/ 'bucket' in competition with all the above local terms), while variant grammatical morphemes are usually cognate (c.f. /erxótan/, standard for 'he was coming', versus dialectal /érketun/). To form a very rough estimate of the lexical relationship of Cypriot to standard Greek, a glottochronological list1 was translated into Athenian and Cypriot Greek; correspondences were noncognate in 16% of the cases. The proportion doubtless varies according to semantic field: in numerals it is nil, while in animal nomenclature it is much higher. By way of illustration we list certain very common terms in the area of (a) farm animals (b) kinship and (c) household furniture and utensils. The usual dialectal term is first given, then the standard term in use among Cypriot town-dwellers; it may be assumed that these latter terms are Cypriot renditions of the Athenian term for the particular meaning, the only exception being that 'nephew' is /anepsyós/ in Athenian. TABLE 4 5

Common Terms for Farm Animals, Kinship, and Household Furniture and Utensils usual dialectal term

standard term among Cypriot town-dwellers

meaning

katsélla Bamálin ápparos Sirúin lòtta tsúros tsúra ~ éa kuélles órnixa pullúin

ayelá9a távros áloyo yurúni yurúna katsíki katsíka ~ éya provata kóta kotópullo

'cow' 'bull' 'horse' 'Pig' 'sow' 'goat' 'she-goat' 'sheep' 'hen' 'chicken'

¿iris mána yós kóri arfós arfí áSropos yenéka anepäös arfóteynos pappús steté ankonúin

pateras ~ papas mána yós kóri aSelfós aSelfi ántras yinéka eksáSelfos aSelfótexnos pappús yayá enkonáki

'father' 'mother' 'son' 'daughter' 'brother' 'sister' 'husband, man 'wife, woman' 'cousin' 'nephew' 'grand-father' 'grand-mother' 'grand-child'

1 See Sarah C. Gudschinsky, "The ABC's of Lexicostatistics (Glottochronology)", Word, 12 (1956), 175-210.

111

STANDARD FORMS

usual dialectal term

CO

standard term among Cypriot town-dwellers

meaning

kopellúin ~ pallikárin kopellúa ~ korúa

ayóri korítsi

'boy' 'girl-

távla tsaéra karkóla masérin prótsa kutalúin kantíla pótsa fenôânin plfáton

trapèzi karékla kreváti maxéri pirúni kutaláki potíri mpukkáli fiinzáni pyáto

'table' 'chair' 'bed' 'knife' 'fork' 'spoon' 'glass' 'bottle' 'cup' 'plate'

In spite of such striking differences in superficial forms, it is possible that the partitioning of semantic space varies but little from village Cypriot to Athenian (or town Cypriot). Thus, dialectal /sintixánno/ Ί talk' and /laló/ Ί say' do not seem to occur vis-à-vis one another in contexts other than those in which standard /miló/ and /léo/ are found.

5.2. SUSPENSION O F P A L A T A L I Z A T I O N

Most of the idiolectal variation found in Cypriot Greek may be related to optionality in the application of phonological rules. That which palatalizes |k| to |c| before front vowels may be suspended, and is consistently suspended in certain items, in which case P24 obligatorily introduces the moderate fronting of |k| to |k|. Where P4 is suspended generally, a style of speech results which is found quite commonly among educated urbanités but is rare in the villages except in the mouths of school teachers. Furthermore, even in village Cypriot, there are certain items with an intrinsic immunity to the operation of that part of P4 which palatalizes |k| to |c| before front vowel. They fall into three main groups : (1) Verb stems with final |k| and the |0ikj ~ |ik| form of the perfectivizer (see p. 74). (2) Words of foreign, usually Turkish origin which have a geminate |kk| before front vowel. Examples from this group are /l&élis/ 'bald' (Tk. /kél/), /kkéffin/ 'mood' (Tk. /keyíf/), /ccirákkin/ 'apprentice' (Tk. /cirák/), /merák;kin/ 'whim' (Tk. /merák/), /J&ellé/ 'head' (Tk. /kellé/), /ccékkin/ 'cheque' (English), /zúkkin/ 'ouzo' (doubtful etymology). (3) Words of Greek origin which are presumed not to have had a continuous history in the Cypriot dialects but to have rather been reintroduced from a non-dialectal source. Such items are furthermore usually exempt from whatever other optional

112

STANDARD FORMS

rules are applicable. Thus, /kimolia/ 'chalk', besides resisting P4, remains unaffected by the yodization rules (P8, P9), and /kiGára/ 'guitar' resists the velarization of /Θ/. These last two items represent the only extant terms for culturally restricted objects. In other cases the concept denoted is fairly commonplace, but the word itself is in competition with a dialectal and perhaps more widespread synonym. Thus, /kéi/ 'it is burning' is always so pronounced but is somewhat rarer than its synonym /krúzi/ (Jekáiken/ 'it got burnt' is, however, usual), /filaki/ 'prison' is the almost universal urban expression, while /xápsi/ (Tk. /hapis/) is common in village speech; /kitázo/ is normal urban Cypriot for Ί look', but is nearly always replaced by /3ikló/, /paratiró/, /askopó/ in the villages. In some cases, rule P4 seems to apply only to specific allomorphs of a given morpheme, /kipros/ would seem to be general for the name of the island (although a dialectal form /cípro/, acc. /cipron/ may be heard); yet /ciprios/ 'a Cypriot' and especially /cipriótika/ 'Cypriot Greek' are fairly common. Similarly, while the feminine forms of the adjective /3ikós/ 'own' were always quoted with /k/ (e.g., /e3 Sikí tu kóri/ 'it's his own daughter'), the noun meaning 'right' (underlying |3ikion| ?) was invariably cited with /c/ (e.g., /me to Sícon tu/ 'with his right', i.e. 'rightly') (In this last case, among others, no easy historical explanation is at hand; other adjectives have /k/ : /c/ alternation e.g., /kakós/ : /kací/ 'wicked'), ,/kírios/ 'Mr., Lord' and /kiría/ 'Mrs.' always have /k/, but /ciris/ 'father' and /eirá/ 'mistress of house', which are clearly dialectalizations of the former, occur only with /c/. Most items with the sequence /c/ + front vowel have standardizing variants with /k/ (e.g. /ce/ 'and' : /ke/, /cerkaci/ 'Sunday' : /kiriaki/), but there are two classes of exceptions : (1) Words which on the basis of cognate comparison can be shown to have underlying |k| but are absent from the standard language as it is known in Cyprus and are not obviously associated semantically with the existing cognates. Thus, /cenká/ 'sharp pain' is undoubtedly related to standard and Cypriot /kentó/ Ί embroider' and is in fact the normal dialectal realization of the nominalization |kentia|, but the standard form of this (/kentyá/) 'embroidery, sharp pain' is not known in Cyprus. (2) Words which lack cognates and are not known to exist in the standard language, or, if they are, appear there with /dz/ or /ts/. Examples are /cizvés/ 'coffee pan', corresponding to standard /bríki/ ( < Tk. /jezvé/, /ibrík/) and /cépi/ 'pocket', corresponding to standard /tsépi/ ( < Tk. /jép/). |x|, in contrast with |k|, is normally affected by rule P4 when stem-final in a verb, thus giving rise to /x/ : Is/ alternation (e.g., /éxo/ Ί have' : /ési/ 'he has'). There are, however, at least two media tantum verbs which seem to be unstable in this respect: either /x/ or /s/ were said to be normal village Cypriot in e.g. /eSéxetun/ 'he was receiving' and /emáxetun/ 'he was trying'. Within the noun system, the only colloquial item in the data found to be consistently exempt from P4 was jtixi| 'fate, chance', although the cognate verb (perfective stem |tix|) participates in the usual alternations (/an tisi/ 'if it happens'); other nouns follow the rule: /tixos/ 'wall' but /tisi/ 'walls'.

STANDARD FORMS

113

Non-colloquial items, however, enjoy the same immunity from P4 as do the forms with |k|. Thus, /metoxi/ 'share', /epoxi/ 'period', /máxi/ 'battle' were never cited with /§/. /pósta/ is usual in the villages for 'post office', but whenever its standard equivalent was used it was always pronounced /taxi3romíon/. /stomáxin/ is apparently possible as an alternative to the more usual /stomásin/ 'stomach', perhaps because the term is 'elevated' for /karká/. As was noted on p. 101, intervocalic and initial /x/ is pronounced in village Cypriot with glottal friction; this applies even to items as non-dialectal as /metoxi/ 'share'. With regard to standardizing replacements of /§/ before front vowels by [χ], we have a situation parallel to that described for /c/. There aie various items for which the standard equivalent is not known: /sámisi/ 'kind of fritter', /misimu/ 'supposedly', /pasás/ 'pasha, big boss', the last two at least of Turkish origin, were never heard with any other pronunciation, while /§/ is regularly replaced in standardizing speech when it derives from the underlying |si| or |x| of inherited words by [sy] and [χ] respectively. Thus, [nisyá] is heard for dialectal /nisá/ 'islands', [éji] 'he has' for /ési/. The multiple origins of Cypriot /§/ are a source of confusion to would-be speakers of standard Greek and hypercorrect forms, such as [ni^á] 'islands', [xokoláta] 'chocolate', are reported to be not unknown; the common correspondence Cypriot [§]: Athenian [χ] has presumably been wrongly extrapolated, the Athenian being in fact [nisyá], [sokoláta]. The cluster /cc/ = /ts/ may be replaced in standard speech by /kk/ or /tsy/, according as the origin is |kk| or |tsi|. Thus, /kóccinos/ 'red' (underlying |kókkinos|) will be replaced as /kóklcinos/ by some speakers and /papútsa/ 'shoes' (underlying |papútsia|) as /papútsya/. Again, such replacement never occurs with items absent from the standard language and is rare in the case of foreign borrowings, whether belonging to the standard language or not : /ccáttizma/ 'impromptu distich' is always so pronounced, and /ccái/ 'tea' nearly always, although in the latter case a standard /tsái/ exists and is occasionally heard. The /ss/ resulting from |sk| and |sx| by rules P4, 14, 15 may be replaced by /sk/ and /sx/ ~ /sk/ respectively in standardizing styles. Thus, /skillos/ 'dog' may occur for /ssillos/ (underlying |skíllos|), /skízo/ ~ /sxizo/ Ί tear' for /ssizo/ (underlying |sxizo|). There are, in addition, various items with underlying |sk| or |sx| which are uniformly exempt from P4 (and consequently P14 and 15). Among the main ones are |sxe3ón| 'almost', |sxé3ion| 'plan', |skéftume| Ί consider' and |skéttos| 'plain'; these are realized as/ske3ón/, /skéSion/,/skéftume/, /slféttos/. It will incidentally be noticed that while all the optional phonological rules are suspended in these items (e.g., |3| remains intervocalically, |i| remains before vowel), geminates are hardly ever simplified by Cypriot speakers, although standard Greek does not possess them.

114

STANDARD FORMS 5.3. SUSPENSION OF YODIZATION

Apart from the cases in surface phonology in which a sequence of /i/ + vowel derives from an underlying form with voiced fricative at the point of hiatus (e.g. /appiá/ 'he jumps' < |appi3á|), or in which stop + /r/ precede (/tría/ 'three'), there are certain items for which suspension of P8 offers the most pi ausible account. Among the commonest are /skolion/ 'school', /musion/ 'museum', /astinomia/ 'police', /amartia/ 'sin' and /lefkosia/ 'Nicosia' (usually referred to, however, as /i xóra/, literally 'the country'). |kar3ia| in the meaning 'stomach' has the normal realization /karká/, but in the meaning 'heart' rejects P8 to yield /karSia/ (notice also the 'learned' cluster /r8/, see 5.5.). |efkeria| in the sense 'opportunity, chance of lift in vehicle' is exempt from all optional rules and is realized as /efkeria/, but follows them to yield /ofcerká/ 'emptiness'. The change in the initial vowel perhaps results from a rule meriting inclusion in a morphophonemics powerful enough to handle all standard-dialectal correspondences, but which has no application in inflectional morphology. |kinonia| yields a rule-governed /cinonyá/ 'holy communion' as well as the exempt /kinonia/ 'society'. |eklisia| yields normal /eklisá/ 'church', as well as non-dialectal /eklisia/ 'the Church'. /i3ia/ 'the same' (fem. sing., neuter pi.) was always pronounced with vocalic second /i/, as were all members of its paradigm. 5.4. SUSPENSION OF | y | REPLACEMENT RULES

The rule replacing |s|, |z| by |s|, jz| (P12) is suspended only in highly standardizing speech, and pronunciations such as /nisá/ 'islands' (|nisi + a|) and /vizá/ 'breasts' (|vizi + a|) are noimal even with speakers who avoid the replacement of |k| and |x| by |c| and |s|, are careful to pronounce intervocalic voiced slit fricatives even in items such as /póoin/ 'foot', and refrain (in North Cyprus) from occlusivizing |θθ|. The only item in which /sy/ never follows P12 would appear to be /syopi/ 'silence', but many, possibly most speakers, pronounce /siopi/, in which case P8, but not the present rule, has been suspended for underlying |siopi|. After /p, t, f, Θ, v, 9/ standardizing speech does, however, frequently have /y/ ; it yodizes in accordance with P8 but does not proceed to PIO or the optional parts of P13. Thus, underlying |mátia| 2 may yield /mátya/ instead of /máOka/ 'eyes', |xorion| 'village' may yield /xoryón/ instead of /xorkón/ and |pó3ia| 'feet', /póSya/ instead of /pó0ka/. The yodization rules are particularly likely to be suspended in the case of a sequence of fricative + |r| + |i| vowel. Thus, speakers who regularly have /xorkón/ 'village' for |xorion| and /sérka/ 'hands' for [xéria| will nevertheless say /ávrion/ 'tomorrow', /yriá/ 'old woman', in place of dialectal /árkon/, /rká/. It is because of the frequency of such pronunciations that rule P29 is set up to delete the initial fricative and thus enable us to postulate sequences of fricative + M in the underlying form; we can then 2

Actually /má6Jca/ is not common ; the usual choice is between standardizing /mátya/ and dialectal /ammáGlja/, for which |ammátia| must be postulated.

STANDARD FORMS

115

treat /ávrion/ as a simple case of yodization suspension. To illustrate the relationship between such pairs we cite the derivation of /rká/ : P8 PI 3 P29 |yria| — > |yryá| — > |yrká| > |rká| Note that in such cases only P8 is actually suspended; the remaining rules then become automatically inapplicable. Similarly, |áyrios| 'wild' yields normal /árkos/, and with P8 suspension /áyrios/. Pairs such as /yréos/ ~ /rkós/ 'debt', /kiOréa/ ~ /cirká/ 'Kythrea', /stereos/ 'solid' ~ /sterkós/ 'dry' (of wine), provide the main evidence within Cypriot Greek itself for the rule which raises |e| before vowel (P7), for except when preceded by a fricative + /r/ cluster, the sequence /e/ + vowel is virtually unknown at any stylistic level, although it can be found in other vernacular dialects and in katharévusa, in coriespondance with Cypriot /y/ + vowel (c.f., Carphathian /miléa/ 'apple tree' for Cypriot /milyá/). The relationship between the variant forms of 'Kythrea' may be shown as follows : P4 P7 P8 P9 P13 P29 |ki0réa| > |ci0réa| —>- |ci0ría| —>- [ci9rya| — > |ci0ryá| — y |ci0rká| >• |cirká| That |xréos| 'debt' usually voices the fricative when P7 is suspended suggests that this latter rule, like P8, is particularly subject to inhibition by a preceding fricative + |r| sequence. The item /myálos/ 'big' poses a difficulty. If we wish to relate it to standardizing /meyálos/ we must posit some sort of recycling: P22 P7 P8 |meyálos| — > |meálos| > |miálos| > |myálos| but such recycling would give the incorrect result in all other cases examined (e.g., |kiniyá| 'he hunts' is realized as /ciniá/ but never as */cinyá/). The name /antréas/ 'Andrew' is exempt from P7 but, as a saint's name is, doubtless subject to nondialectal influences3; as a boy's name, the hypocoristic /antrikkos/ is normally used, /oréos/ 'beautiful' is perhaps of standard origin; /ómorfos/ is the normal word in the sense and /kalós/, which in most collocations means 'good', is used in reference to women. 5.5. LEARNED CLUSTERS

There are many items of learned origin which contain clusters other than those actually documented in 1.2.1. The present section is not concerned with words which are not part of the vocabulary of the unsophisticated villager (e.g. /arktikós/ 'Arctic', /élksi/ 'attraction'), but with certain everyday words which exist in variant forms and which can be shown to be derivable from a unique underlying phonological form and to differ only in that, while one member of the pair results from the normal sequential operation of the phonological rules, the other implies the suspension of one or more rules. 3

Menardos (1894 p. 164) quotes, however, /aintrikán/ for /áyon antréan/ 'St. Andrew' (acc.), the name of a monastery at the tip of the Karpas peninsula.

116

STANDARD FORMS

The standard equivalent of /péfti/ 'Thursday' is /pémpti/, and this latter is probably the only possible form of 'fifth' as it occurs in the common /pémpti táksi/ 'grade V'. In this case we may set up [pémpti | and allow the optional rules to operate as follows : P16 P18 P19 |pémpti| > |pémfti| >• |péífti| — > jpéfti | /pémpti/ is thus shown to result directly from |pémpti|, and /péfti/ from the end result of the derivational sequence. It may be noted that, while /mpt/ is a 'learned' sequence corresponding to dialectal /ft/, the rule whose suspension accounts for the former is not a cluster reduction rule but P16, which fricativizes stops before dental obstruents. Note again the normal pattern: all optional rules are suspended, or none are suspended, which means that many clusters such as /mft/ fail to occur not because they are acted on in the underlying structure by subsequent obligatory rules (/simfonó/ Ί agree' is possible) but because the operation of one optional rule entails that of all others. The simplification rule PI7 is obligatory; one cluster which does, however, result from the non-application of a reduction rule is /mps/. It occurs in /kompsós/ 'smart', which has no other form, and in the probably rare /épempsa/ ' sent' for normal /épepsa/. We assume in this last case that speakers who aim at standard speech would replace /pémpo/ by its standard synonym /stélno/ rather than attempt to standardize a dialectal (although historically ancient) lexical item. Speakers who pronounce e.g. /ton ksénon/ 'the stranger' (acc.), /ton tsinkúnin/ 'the miser' (p. 36), usually show other indications of standardizing tendencies (by choosing, for instance, /tsinkúnis/ rather than /ppintis/), and give weight to the general view here adopted, that standardization often takes the form of rule suspension. Sequences of two stops (except /pk/) and of two fricatives (except for /sf/, /zv/) are usually irregular in that the first involve suspension of the fricativization rule (P16), the latter of the one which occlusivizes dental and velar fricatives (P21). The only item which consistently occurred with two stops was /leptón/: the supplementary test item |eptá # leptáj 'seven minutes' was invariably cited as /eftá leptá/, although /leftá/ is occasionally heard. Assuming, as historically seems to be the case, that /leftá/ 'money' is a cognate, we have a 'dialectal doublet' of the type illustrated in 5.3. in connection with yodization suspension, /leptós/ 'thin', and even more so /leptepileptos/ 'delicate', are urban items (dialectal for 'thin' is /pastos/), /ptóma/ 'corpse' again seems to be urban for /nekrós/, a noun used of humans and /psófkos/, an adjective referring to animals; /lésin/ was provided by one informant for 'corpse' (c.f. Turkish /les/ 'carcass') but seems to occur according to others only in the metaphorical sense 'filthy object' (/eínil lésin/ 'he's filthy'). The rule occlusivizing dental and velar fricatives when another consonant precedes is inapplicable to standardizing speech. Thus, /avyón/ 'egg' (or, with standard ending, /aνγό/), /avyí/ 'dawn', /arxí/ 'beginning' are heard as realizations of |avyón|, |avyí|, |arxí| for more usual /afkón/, /afkí/, /arkí/. It may be mentioned that clusters with /x/ as second member before a front vowel may undergo a further stage of dialectalization

STANDARD FORMS

117

by recycling through P4. Thus, 'beginning' is /arkí/ ~ /arci/ and Ί begin' is /ar^éfko/ ~ /arcéfko/ (underlying |arxévyo|) or /arkinó/ ~ /arcinó/ (underlying |arxinó|). Underlying |efxi|, when compounded with |pros|, yields /prosefki/ 'prayer', but as a simple noun meaning 'blessing' is recycled as /efci/. Verb-stem final |k| arising from |x| is, however, exempt from P4: thus, |érxete| 'he comes' is realized as /èrgete/, never with /δ/, |aryí| 'he's late' only as /arkí/. In spite of cases such as /arci/ 'beginning', it remains generally true that secondary |k| arising from |x| undergoes only moderate palatalization to /k/ before a front vowel, while original |k| becomes /c/. Thus, /várkes/ 'boats' is in dialect /várces/, and |péfki| 'pines' is in dialect /péfci/, while |piryi| 'towers' is always /pirki/ and |prosefxés| 'prayers' is always /prosefkés/. As is the case with other optional rules, the occlusivization rule is automatically suspended in the case of learned vocabulary items. Thus, |par9enayoyion| 'girls' school' is subject only to the obligatory P24 and fails to observe all the applicable optional rules (P 8, 21, 22) to yield /parGenayoyion/ (never */partenaoyón/). The first root of this word, meaning 'virgin', occurs likewise only as /parOéna/, but is not lexically dialectal, /korasá/ being normal for the sense. Although the occlusivization rule is treated as optional, it does not seem to be as freely suspended as some other rules. Thus, except for a few points on Troodos 4 , no informants gave any realization, other than /kertizo/, for |ker3izo| Ί gain', which implies that P4 is suspended more readily than P21 ; the suspension of P4 in this case may arise from recent borrowing (/kazantizo/, a Turkish loan, being at least as common in the sense). That /r3/ should occur in standardizing pronunciations of this item, which belongs to standard Greek, is not as suprising as that it occurred, according to Troodos informants, in /vór3os/ 'mule' and /pórSos/ 'fart', neither of which would seem to be likely candidates for standardizing influence, the first indeed being specifically dialectal. While it is in general true that optional rules apply or fail to apply as a whole, there is at least one case in which every single form occurring in the abstract structure has been heard to be directly realized by one speaker or the other. 'Week' occurs as /ev3omá3a/, /evtomá3a/, /evtomáa/, /evtomá/ and /eftomá/, and these realizations may be compared to the abstract forms : P21 P22 P26 P28 |ev3omá3a| >- |evtomá3a| —>· |evtomáa| —>- |evtomá| —>• |eftomá| It would be absurd to draw firm conclusions from such meagre evidence; consultation of informants regarding the degree of dialectality of the forms of 'week' are, however, consistent with the hypothesis that, in cases of such multiple fluctuation, the position 4

The three items designed to test this point, and dropped quite early on, in the belief that /rt/ was universal for | r6], were |ker6izo| Ί gain', |kar8úlla| 'heart' and |vór6os| 'mule'. Only at three points (33, 61, 75 See Appendix for the names) was /r9/ claimed to be consistently used in all three. Particularly puzzling was the statement made by the informants at 61 and 75 that /pasarôizo/ Ί succeed' was the only permissible rendition of what elsewhere in Cyprus is /pasartizo/. As this items is borrowed from Turkish /basardi/, and as Turkish /d/ is normally adapted in Cypriot Greek as /t/, one might suspect some sort of hypercorrect analogizing from e.g., Cypriot /kertizo/: standard /kerôizo/. Nowhere was the existence of stop pronunciations denied in /irten/ 'he came' (|ir9en|) and /arkó/ 'I'm late' (|aryó|).

118

STANDARD FORMS

of the various forms along the standard-dialectal dimension is directly correlated with the distance traversed through the rule sequence. Brief mention may be made of pronunciations which imply suspension of the rule which voices slit fricatives before sonants. Among the stock items used for Chapter 4 which also provide data on the operation of rule P31 were |fri8in| 'brow', |fléva| 'vein', |0rumpin| 'thyme' and [ánGropos| 'man' (items 17, 20, 38, 39). In addition, |xrónos| 'year' and |xréos| 'debt' were elicited at practically every point and |afrós| 'foam', |xrusá| 'gold' were included in the supplementary list. The responses showed that some people at every point pronounced voiced the fricative in at least most items. The usual realizations were /vrin/, /vléa/,/3rumpín/,/á3ropos/, /yrónos/, /yréos/ ~ /rkós/, /avrós/, /yrusá/. Yet evidence provided by observation of casual conversation and by the recorded texts is that rule P31 is suspended in the villages with considerable facility and is indeed somewhat rarely applied in Nicosia. However, the statements made in the literature (e.g. Menardos, 1894, p. 160, Pantelides p. 46), that certain forms which in standard Greek have /γη/ are found in Cyprus with /γη/ ~ /xn/ fluctuation, could not be entirely substantiated. Not a single informant accepted */xnómi/ or */xnorizo/ for the supplementary items /ynomi/ 'opinion' and /ynorizo/ Ί am acquainted with' (also^ronizo/), although both are cited by e.g. Pantelides. There would therefore appear to be no grounds for setting up underlying forms for these items other than |γηόηή|, |γηοΓίζο|; it is conceivable that /xn/ pronunciations of hypercorrect nature arose in the past under the stress of standardizing pressures against fricative voicing5. 5

The existence of a regular correspondence between standard /γη/ and dialectal /xn/, such as is implied in the treatments of Menardos and Pantelides, would pose an awkward dilemma. If we set u p underlying |γη| for such items, the required devoicing rule would be strikingly inconsistent with the rest of P31 ; if, on the other hand, we set up |xn|, the general principle correlating rule suspension to standardizing tendency would apparently be violated. However, the only instance in the data clearly favouring the former alternative is /steynós/, standard for 'dry' versus Cypriot /steynós/ ~ /stexnós/, the latter alternant apparently preferred by speakers of non-standard idiolects. In contrast to this standard, /vraxnós/ 'hoarse' is favoured by urban speakers in Cyprus, /vraynós/ by villagers. Similarly popular Demotic /axnós/ 'steam' (educated Athenian /atmós/) occurs in /xorkátika/ as /aynós/, but in the towns as /axnós/ (and similarly for the relationship between the verbs /axnizi/ and /aynizi/). However, the distribution of /xn/ ~ /γη/ in such forms is by no means clearcut. /axnós/, at least, seems not unknown in the villages (although it could be an 'elevated' borrowing f r o m the towns, /kapnós/ is usual in village dialect for both 'smoke' and 'steam' according to T.B.). The fluctuation between /akatáxnota/ ~ laka.tÁ.ynota.1, a n exclamation of polite disagreement, is probably irrelevant to the question whether |xn| or |γη| should be postulated in such cases: although the item is doubtless related to Hellenistic άκατάγνωστο5 'without condemnation' (see 'Ιστορικόν λεξικόν xfls N é a s Ελληνικήε, 1, [Athens, 1933], it is certainly not K N O W N to be so related by the average user. Perhaps the most cogent argument for setting up |xn| in all cases of /xn/ ~ /γη/ fluctuation lies in the distribution of forms for 'game', while /pexnioin/ and /ρεγηίδίη/ were cited as possible at all points, but to be in competition with /peynxin/ ~ /ρεγηίη/, no one accepted */pexniin/ or */pexnin/. That /xn/ occurs only in conjunction with standard intervocalic /δ/ suggests that /xn/ forms are REGARDED as standard in all cases of fluctuation. The limited data available suggest that it might be possible to confirm this hypothesis by showing that, while /steynós/ is favoured by speakers of either standard Greek or extreme dialect, /stexnós/ is characteristic of uneducated but moderate dialect.

6 SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

6.0. RULES SPECIFIC TO NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND PRONOUN

(Nl) Delete any stem-final vowel other than the |i| of masculines and neuters in the environment —|- vowel, transferring to the latter vowel any stress carried by the deleted one (see p. 50). (N2) Transfer to the vowel which is located at the third mora from the end any stress occurring earlier (see p. 51). 6.1. RULES SPECIFIC TO VERB

(VI) (a) Delete |a| in the environment {augment} "i " (b) Delete augment in the environment - e (see p. 75). o (V2) Place stress on the vowel which occurs at the third mora from the end of the word, or on the first vowel of one- and two-mora words (see p. 76). (V3) In the case of a sequence of stem-final ji| or |a| and a vowel which begins a personal ending (except when this latter contains 'passive' and the stem-final vowel is |i|): (a) Delete |e| from the sequence |i + e| (b) Delete whichever vowel of the two occurs second in the list |ouaeij (or the first vowel of the sequence if they are identical), transferring to the surviving vowel any stress carried by the deleted one (see p. 76). (V4) (a) Delete the first |e| of the plural active imperative morpheme |ete| in the environment after vowel and |1|, |r| or |s|. (b) Delete |e| of the singular active imperative morpheme |e| in the environment 1] r - unstressed object pronoun or definite article (see p. 81). s

120

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES 6.2. G E N E R A L R U L E S

(* PI) 1 Replace all long vowels by short ones (see p. 51). (* P2) Delete morpheme boundaries (see p. 51). (* P3) Delete all consonants other than |n|, |s| from word-final consonant clusters (see p. 51). (P4) (a) Ilei —> Ici ) „. , ' ' in the environment - front vowel (see pp. 51, 111). (b)|x|-^|s|. J Exception: (a) does not apply in the environment - {personal ending} (see p. 77). (b) does not apply to |x| after |f, r| (see p. 117). (*P5) (a) |k|->- |c| in the environment-|c|. (b) |x|-> |s| in the environment-|s| (see p. 51). (P6) |1|

|r| in the environment - consonant (see pp. 51, 86).

(P7) |e| - > |i| in the environment - vowel (see p. 115). (P8) |i| —> |y| in the environment - vowel. Exception: |i| remains after consonant + |r| (see pp. 52, 104, 114). (*P9) |yV| - > [yV| (see p. 52). (PIO) |t| - > |3| in the environment -|y| (see p. 52). (*P11) |t|->- |d| in the environment -|8| (see p. 52). (PI2) (a) |s| - > 1st ) . , . . . . „xi! ',:, in the environment - y (see p. 52). (b) \z\ - v \z\ j c (P13) *(a) [y| —>- 0 in the environment s ζ Φ ) |y| |k| in the environment ( c ) |y| —>• |k| in the environment obstruent (except |γ|)- (see pp. 52-3, 92-5, 114-5) (* P14) |c| —>- |s| in the environment |s|- (see p. 53). (* P15) |s|->- |s| in the environment -|s| (see p. 53). (P16) Stop->- fricative in the environment - dental obstruent (see pp. 77, 116-7). (* P17) Consonant-> 0 in the environment Πτ. (see pp. 53, 77). [fnc. -|s| (PI8) (a) |n| is completely assimilated to a following continuant exc. |y| (see p. 78) *(b) |n| —*• |m| in the environment - labial. 1

Asterisked rules are obligatory. The rest are optionally suspended in standardizing speech.

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

121

(PI9) (a) Geminate consonant is simplified in the environment -consonant (b) Nasal consonant 0 in the environment - stop + sibilant (see pp. 53, 78, 116). (* P20) Fricative is assimilated in respect of voicing to a following fricative (see p. 78). (P21) (a) Slit fricative - > stop in the environment -sibilant (b) Dental/velar fricative

stop in the environment consonant - (see p. 78).

(P22) Voiced slit fricative —*• 0 in the environment V - V (see pp. 53, 96-7). (* P23) |γ| -»- 0 in the environment -|y| (see p. 54). (* P24) (a) |γ| |y| in the environment -front vowel (see pp. 54, 97). (b) | k | - M (* P25) | k | - > |k| in the environment -|k| (see p. 111). (P26) Unstressed vowel - > 0 when preceded by an occurrence of the same vowel ; (also unstressed |e| when preceded by |a| ). (see pp. 55, 98). (P27) |θθ| —> |tt| (see pp. 55, 98-9). (P28) Voiced fricative -»- voiceless fricative in the environment -stop (see pp. 55,99-100). *(P29) Fricative - > 0 in the environment -|rk| (see pp. 114-5). (P30) |θ|

|x| in the environment

rV"

-V (see pp. 26, 55, 100-2).

(P31) Voiceless slit fricative is voiced before sonant (see pp. 55, 118).

6.3. SANDHI

Such of the general phonological rules other than P12 as operate on consonant clusters with |n|, |s| or any phoneme resulting from them as first member apply across word boundaries. There are in fact four such rules : 6.3.0. P15 replaces |s| by |s| when the following word commences with |s|. Thus, 'let him rejoice' is /as sérete/ (|as # xérete|); |tus # skillus| 'the dogs' (acc.) leads to |tus # s§illus| after the operation of P4 and Ρ14, and this by PI5 to |tus # ssillus| (reduced finally to /tu sslllus/, see 6.3.2.).

122

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

6.3.1. P18 assimilates final |n| completely to a following continuant and, in respect of point of articulation, to a following labial: |ton # próton| 'the first' (masc. acc.)-> |tom # próton|, |ton # filon| 'the friend' (masc. acc.) |tof # filon|, |ton # 3rómon| 'the road' (acc.) - v |to3 # 6rómon| (ultimately reduced to /to Srómon/ by P19). Across word boundaries, P18 applies to |n| + |y| (e.g., |ton # ión| 'the son' ultimately - ν /toy yón/). 6.3.2. P19 reduces geminates arising from P18 or from a sequence of word-final |n| followed by initial |nt| or |nc| or word-final |s| followed by a cluster with |s| as first member. |ton # θίοη| 'the uncle' (acc.) leads, via |ton # 0kón|, to |to0 # 0kón|, and this is reduced by P19 to [to # 0kón| (Jto θ Icón/). In the very rare cases where final |n| occurs before initial nasal + stop sequence, the resulting geminate is reduced: |ton # ntópion| 'the local inhabitant' (acc.) —ν |to # ntópion| ([tondópion]). For |n| before verbs in initial nasal + stop sequence, see p. 83. Similarly, ]tis # stéllas| 'of Stella' results in /ti stéllas/ and |tin # stéllan| 'Stella' (acc.), via |tis # stellan|, in /ti stéllan/. There are two very common compound prepositions which are acted on by this rule : |mes # se| 'inside' (c.f. /mésa/ 'inside' (adv.)) and |pan # se] 'on' (c.f. /páno/ 'above'). As |se| itself ('in') is reduced to |s| before the articles (see below), |mes # se # to # xorion| 'inside the village' yields ultimately /mes to xorkón/, and 'on the chair' is P18 P19 generated as follows: |pan # s # tin # tsaéran| >- |pas # s # tin # tsaéran| >|pa # s # ti # tsaéran| (/pa s ti tsaéran/). The loss of the final |n| of |tin| in this last example results from the operation of part (b) of rule Ρ19. Another example is |ton # pséftin| 'the liar' (acc.) —> |to # pséftin|. In certain styles of speech both parts of P19 may be suspended (see p. 36). 6.3.3. P20 replaces |s| by |z| before a voiced fricative. That it also does this before a sonant in the speech of most people is perhaps a reason for collapsing P20 and P31. The main reason this is not done is that the first is obligatory, the second optional. Examples are /tuz yámus/ 'the weddings' (acc.) and /tiz lefkosias/ 'of Nicosia'. There are two further rules applying specifically across word boundaries : (a) nasals are deleted before geminate stops and (b) |s| + nasal - v |z| before stop. Thus, |ton # ppintin] 'the miser' (acc.)—y /to ppintin/, and |tus # ntópius| 'the local inhabitants' —>- /tuz tópius/. The nasal deletion of type (a) may apparently be suspended in slow speech. The only case not covered by the above statements would seem to be that of |n| before word-initial |pk|. Informants sometimes realized |ton # piatón| 'of the plates'

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

123

as /torn peatón/ or /torn ^atón/, but in most cases declined to cite anything on the grounds of its rarity. Verbs with initial |pk| prothesize |i| after |n| (see p. 83). When |n| is immediately followed by an intonation, many speakers delete it.2 For example, Ipú epie,/ 'where did he go', but /epien ésso tu./ 'he went home', /epíem pucí.¡ 'he went that way'. When vowels straddle a word boundary, one of them is usually deleted - in the case of different vowels, whichever comes second in the list |a o u i e|, except that |u # e| contracts to |o|. No reduction occurs, however, when |i| precedes any vowel or is preceded by |o| or |a|, or when one vowel represents the monophonematic forms of the definite article (/o/, /i/). Any stress on a deleted vowel is transferred to an unstressed surviving one. In the transcriptions of Chapter 7, a hyphen marks sandhi deletion.Examples are: |ma # |én # |pu # |én # |ke # |pu #

ínta # évalesj tu # áresen| íxen| to # ipun| ír0es| en|

/má-ntá-vales/ /én t-áresen/ /pú-sen/ /én to ipun/ /c-írtes/ /po-n/

'but what did you put?' 'it did not please him' 'who had' Ί did not say it' 'and you came' 'which is'

The above sandhi phenomena are best regarded as taking place after the phonological rules have operated on all morphological constructions. The preposition meaning 'to' has three phonologically determined forms: /se/ occurs before consonant-initial forms other than the definite article (e.g., /se tún to kutín/ 'in this box'); /is/ occurs before the definite article when the previous word is consonant-final (e.g., /epien is tin anklian/ 'he went to England' [but for /mes se/, /pas se/ see above]); /s/ occurs elsewhere (e.g.,/vár to s to kutín/,/es s enan kutín/, 'put it in the box', 'it's in a box'). As prothesis of |i| and elision of final vowels occur elsewhere, we may take /se/ to represent the base form and write /s/ and /is/ as /s-/ and /is-/ respectively. One other non-verbal form in the data prothesizes |i| after consonant: /mèra/ 'day'. Thus, /pénte mères/ 'five days' but /ein tin iméran/ 'that day' and /tris iméres/ 'three days'.

6.4. THE PHONOLOGICAL RULES RESTATED

The above rules, as they stand, are to some extent repetitive (c.f., P5, Ρ12, P25) and being expressed largely in terms of unanalysed sound units rather than feature complexes, they lack certain obvious generalizations. We will now restate the general rules (except P2, for which see p. 51) in terms of the following set of features: vocalic, consonantal, anterior, coronal, voice, continuant, nasal, strident, lateral and for vowels, high, low, front, long. The labels 'anterior' and 'coronal' are borrowed 2

As do many speakers phrase-finally and even phrase-medially within intonation groups.

124

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

from Chomsky and Halle, The Sound Pattern of English (New York, 1968), and replace the traditional point-of-articulation terms. Table 46 specifies the feature composition of the underlying consonant units and of such others as are established by the rules (i.e., c, s, z, y, ji, q|). The vowels are all specified as vocalic and nonconsonantal and further as : |a| # # [+low] |o| # # [-low], [-high], [ - f r o n t ] |uj # # [-low], [+high], [ - f r o n t ] j i| # # [-low], [+high], [+front] jej # # [-low], [-high], [+front] Until Rule 1 operates, the vowels are also [+long] or [—long]. The /y/ which derives from |γ| is specified in Table 46. That arising from |i| differs from the vowel in that it is non-vocalic as well as non-consonantal. TABLE

46

Feature Composition of the Underlying Consonant Units Ρ t Vocalic Consonantal Anterior Coronal Voice Continuant Nasal Strident Lateral

k k f θ

ζ

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 0 0 0 0 0 + + + + + + + + +

+ + + + +

—

—

—

—

—

+

—

—

s

s

θ

c

—

—

—

—

—

—

+ +

χ

ν

—

—

—

—

—

—

ζ

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + —

1

Γ

+ + + + +

+ + + + +

Υ m η

—

—

—

—

—

+ + + + + + —

—

—

y ί» Ώ

+ + + —

—

—

+ + + + + + + + + + —

—

—

—

+

(1) Vowel Reduction [+long] —*• 0 This rule must follow the stress placement rules (N2 and V2) as the mora in terms of which they operate is defined on the basis of vowel length. As the length feature is not referred to in any other rule, Vowel Reduction is placed before all of them. (2) Raising (= P7) [+front] - > [+high] / -V This rule raises |e| to ¡i] and must precede Yodization, which, in our formulation, replaces |i| alone by |y|.3 3

In Cypriot Greek itself Rules 2 and 4 can readily be collapsed to state that the feature of front in prevocalic position entails the features of high and non-vocalic, but the occurrence of one without the other is not unknown elsewhere (e.g., in Zakynthos, where raising but not glide formation affects an underlying stressed |e|).

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

(3) Liquid Centering (=P6) Γ+cons' [-lateral] L+voc _

125

+cons' voc

/-c

This rule is still placed before Yodization, although the original justification (p. 52) holds only as long as yod is regarded as a true consonant. (4) Yodization (=P8) —cons +high [—voc] / —V except after stop + |r| +front This rule feeds into Yod Destressing and must precede Voiced Fricative Deletion, if sequences such as |iôa| Ί saw' are to yield /ia/, and not * /yá/. The product of Yodization is acted on by Dental Lenition and Palatalization. (5) Voiced Fricative Deletion (=P22) +voice 0 / V +cont —strident _ —nasal This precedes Contraction to allow e.g. /vrin/ (see derivation below) to arise from |frí8in| 'brow'. (6) Dental Lenition (=P10) "+ant -(-voice +cor +cont ] I —cont

[-cons]

To prevent the Fricative-Occlusive Rule from affecting a new |t8y| sequence arising from the present rule, we ensure that Dental Fricative Assimilation, into which Dental Lenition feeds, is interposed. (7) Yod Destressing (=P9) "—cons " —voc [V] [—stress] [+stress] _+stress_ This rule must precede the Cy Rule, as the yod deleted or replaced by the latter will, in some cases, have previously produced the above stress shift (see e.g. /νηθ^ύ/). (8) Palatalization (=P4, P12, P24) j[-ant]i r+COr Ί I r + f r o n t ] Ι (Γ . —ant / — / { — α voice_ voi ([+strid]aj α stridj ' L"ConsJ / j ^ V0c]2 ^

126

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES

The rule states that velars and sibilants become palatal before |y| and, in the case of velars, |i| and |e|. Furthermore, the voiceless velars acquire stridency. The complexity of the rule stems largely from an asymmetry inherent in Cypriot Greek such that while |k| and |x| palatalize to /c/ and /§/, |γ| yields /y/ rather than the expected /z/ (as occurs in Cretan dialects). This 'semi-palatalization' of |γ| is continued in forms such as /afki/ 'dawn' from |avyi| (contrast /efci/ 'blessing' from |efxi|). The fluctuation observed in |arxi| 'beginning' (5.5) can now be treated as a result of the optionality of that component of the present rule which introduces stridency, and is thus on a par with the stylistic variation between /k/ and /c/, /?/ and /s/ (see 5.2), previously attributed to the suspension of 'palatalization'. Thus, |arxi| by the present rule now yields |arsl] or |arji|, and these are converted by the Fricative-Occlusive Rule to /aici/ or /arki/ respectively. Furthermore, the original rules, by treating /arki/ and /efki/ as normal, had to exempt the sequences |rx|, |fx| from P4. The separation of P4 and P24, in addition to recognizing a difference in optionality and phonetic character, by preserving |γ| until the operation of Voiced Fricative Deletion (P22) ensured that it, but not the |y| of vocalic origin, was optionally deleted (see p. 97 on P24). This would now be secured by the fact that we have adopted feature complexes so that the yod of consonantal origin retains its characterization as a voiced fricative. The present rule must precede the Cy Rule, which deletes |y| after palatals, Spirantization and Palatal Assimilation, as well as Velarization, whose output /x/ is immune to palatalization. (9) Contraction (= —stress

0

P26) / V2 — where Vi = V 2

(10) Dental Fricative Assimilation (= PI 1)

This rule must precede Degemination, which converts |93k| to |3k| (see /puOljá/). The original rule is followed closely, but it is clear that the present rule, Palatal Assimilation and the |θθ| Rule all illustrate the principle that geminate clusters partake in phonological processes as units, and should perhaps be collapsed. (11) The Cy Rule ( = P13) —cons Τ —voc +high + f r o n tJ

0 +cons —ant α cor —cont

(a)

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127

The development of prevocalic |i| to /k/ becomes more intelligible if we assume the collapse of various phenomena in the present rule. Thus, the yod arising (by dissimilation?) from |i| is first consonantalized (acquiring fricativity?) by assimilation to a previous consonant and then undergoes the same sort of dissimilatory occlusivization as in Rule 17. (Indeed, if we took /fk/ rather than /pic/ to be the basic reflex of |py|, we might allow this stage to be accomplished by Rule 17). We assume that the palatality of the output results from the equivalence of this feature in consonants to height and frontness in vowels. The original rule (P23), converting |yy] to |y|, is now superfluous as the |yy| resulting from Palatalization drops its second yod by the present rule. The Cy Rule feeds into Simplification (see /dópka/, p. 131). (12) Spirantization ( = Ρ14) [+strident] -*• [+cont] / [+strident]

-

This converts any |sc| arising from |sk| by Palatalization to |ss|, which then feeds into Palatal Assimilation (see /assá/). The |sx| arising from 'semi-palatalization' remains (but becomes /sk/ unless Rule 17 is also suspended). (13) Velarization ( = P30) '+ant +cor —voice +cont —stri

v

=31 oa -

(14) Simplification "/ / Ci 0 /

( = P3, P17, P29) - |r| + [ - c o n t ] (a) C - |s| or |k| (b) - Co # (c) Except where Ci = |n| or |s| For a discussion of (a), see /rká/ 'old woman' in Table 47 and on p. 115. Part (b) of this rule is somewhat unnatural as it stands, and it is tempting to generalize it to state that true consonants drop between true consonants. However, we must prevent its operation on, e.g. |nk9| (see |esfánk0in| in Table 47). The rule limiting final consonants to /s/ and /n/ (or their sandhi variants) is placed here as coming under the rubric 'simplification'. (15) Palatal Assimilation ( = P5, PI 5, P25) "+cons —ant —voc "—ant +cor ( -ant) +cor α cont \ +cor I _ß strid_ β strid α cont This formulation collects the various instances of regressive assimilation of palatality

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(with or without stridency). The disjunctive expression (in braces) excludes clusters with initial labial (|fs, plc|) and the variable terms stop-continuant and continuantstop sequences (e.g. |ts, sk|). Its complexity gives strong support to the suggestion made under rule 10. (16) Voice Assimilation ( = P20, P31) ~+cons ~ +cons —voc [a voice] I — +cont +cont a voice —nasal Thus, fricatives agree in voicing with (a) following fricatives and (b) following sonants. For idiolects in which only (a) applies (see 5.5), the environmental specification must include [—voc], [—nasal]. The derivation of e.g. /mairepsen/ is simpler if the Fricative-Occlusive Rule follows the present one. (17) Fricative-Occlusive Rule ( = P16, P21) In the case of heterogeneous clusters : '+cons /[+cont] [—cont] / [- - ] [C except {f, v, s}]) "+cons Ί —voc )[—cont] [+cont] / —nasalJ [s] —nasal -voc

(a) (b)

Cypriot Greek follows the general tendency of Greek dialects to limit obstruent clusters to fricative-stop sequences and forbids not only sequences of two stops or two voiceless fricatives, as would seem to hold universally in true vernaculars, but of two voiced fricatives. Furthermore it replaces |νγ, v8, γθ, r0, r9, γχ, ry| with /fk, ft, xt, rt, rt, rk, rk/ (see next rule). As in common Greek, however, a fricative is occlusivized before |s|, and /sf, zv/ occur. Of the two exceptions to the rule (see Table 2 on p. 29), /pt/ is 'learned' (see 5.5) and /pk/ is confined to central dialects, being elsewhere eliminated by fricativization (/fj£, ps)), assimilation (/kk/) or reduction (/k/). The output of the present rule, /fk/ (for prevocalic |fi|), occurs sporadically within the /pk/ area (see p. 178), and this suggests marginal survival of an erstwhile normal reflex. Nasal Assimilation must follow so that sequences such as |nk0|, |mp0| may lead to |xxt|, |fft| (see /esfáxtin/, Table 47). (18) Nasal Assimilation ( = P18, P19b) [—cont] + [-fstrident] 0 / α antl α ant .ß cor β corj [+nasal] • +cont" γ nas Ί γ nas θ voicej 3 voice_ Exception: |mn| remains

3I

(a) (b) (c)

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129

Parts (b) and (c) of this rule are meant to indicate that nasals other than those eliminated by (a) agree in point of articulation with a following consonant, and in nasality and voice as well if the latter is continuant. 4 The present rule feeds into the \θθ\ Rule (see /emaráttin/, Table 47) and into Degemination (see /esfáxtin/, Table 47). (19) Degemination (PI9a) Ci—*· 0 I — C 2 C where Ci = C 2 This must precede Devoicing (see /puGjjá/, Table 47). (20) \θθ\ Rule ( = P27) |θθ|-> |tt| (21) Devoicing ( = P28) "+cons ' -voc [—voice] / — [—cont] -nasal This rule, which yields e.g. /pó9ka/ 'feet' and /afkó/ 'egg' (|pó8ía, avyó|), is characteristic of central dialects but subject to much fluctuation (see p. 100). The sequential relationships specified above yield a partially ordered set. Referring to the rules by their numbers, the sequences which emerge are: (1-2-4-7-11-14-1617-18-19-21); (3-4); (4-5); (4-6); (4-8); (5-9); (6-10); (8-11); (8-12); (8-13); (10-17); (12-15); (18-20). Thus, any ordering which does not violate these restrictions will give the correct results, and the one actually adopted represents only one of the possibilities. The rules as reformulated yield the 'reading transcription' established in Chapter 1 except insofar as they introduce palatal and velar variants of /n/. They are followed by the sandhi rules and by various late rules involving the 'non-distinctive' features described in 1.1.2. In particular, the following may be noted: 4

The formulation here used implies that contrast between nasals is neutralized preconsonantally in surface forms but, while |n| regularly partakes in the assimilatory process described, evidence for |m| is fragmentary as morpheme-final cases do not appear to come into contact with following consonants within the structure of the living language. As a result the generalization embodied in our rule partly reflects a fact of morpheme structure rather than a phonological process. The only item relevant to the point seems to be |kumbia| 'buttons', which was elicited as a supplementary item rarely, the only response registered in competition with standard /kumpyá/ being /kumká/ (although N.N. thinks that /kujijfá/, homophonous with the output of |kuntia| 'push', is possible.) /kolimpi/ 'swimming' does not have a plural and /tsambi/ 'bunch of grapes' is replaced in Cyprus by /knizin/. Uncertainty also affects the sequence nasal + /pk/ in sandhi (see 6.3.). If we regard /mfe/ as the regular reflex of |mpy|, then the present rule must be restricted to assimilation of |n|, or, more plausibly from the historical point of view, Nasal Assimilation could be placed before Simplification. This would entail the modification of the rules affecting |nty|. If, for instance, we assumed Dental Lenition to be inhibited after nasals (thus taking cognizance of what is doubtless a 'standing' prohibition against nasal-fricative sequences), and the |ty| arising in e.g., the generation of /dójifcaI 'teeth' to be converted directly to |k| by the Cy Rule, we would obtain the correct result for both items.

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(1) Stops are specified as voiced after nasals and voiced fricatives, elsewhere as voiceless. (2) Nasals are optionally deleted utterance-initially before stops (see p. 27) and word-initially after /z/ (the sandhi-variant of |s|, see p. 122). (3) Sequences of voiceless obstruents are phonetically tense and, in the case of stops, aspirated. (4) /x/ replaces velar by glottal friction initially before vowel and intervocalically. Various derivations are now provided to illustrate the operation of the rules as reformulated. TABLE 4 7

Derivations Illustrating the Operation of the Reformulated 'eyebrow' 1 friSin ι

'eyebrow' (genitive) 1 fríSiU I 1 fri3íU I 1 friSíu I 1 fri9yu |

1 friin 1 1 fri3yú | 1 frin 1 /vrin/

'basket' 1 kaláGin | /kaláxin/

1 friekú ι 1 vri9Jfú I /vriejfú/

Stress Placement (N2) Vowel Reduction (1) Yodization (4) Voiced Fricative Deletion (5) Yod Destressing (7) Contraction (9) Cy Rules (11) Voice Assimilation (16) Devoicing (21)

'baskets' 1 kaláBia | 1 kaláSya | /kaláGka/

Yodization (4) Cy Rules (li) Velarization (13)

'hooks' 1 arpáyia | I arpáyya | 1 arpáyya | /arpáya/

Yodization (4) Palatalization (8) Cy Rules (11)

'it withered' 1 emarán6in | 1 emará09in | /emaráttin/

Rules

Nasal Assimilation |θθ| Rule (20)

(18)

SUMMARY OF PHONOLOGICAL RULES 'it was slaughtered' 1 esfánkGin | 1 esfánxtin | 1 esfáxxtin | /esfáxtin/

Fricative-Occlusive Rule (17) Nasal Assimilation (18) Degemination (19)

'he c o o k e d ' 1 emayirevysen | 1 emaircvysen | 1 emairevsen | 1 emairefsen | /emairepsen/

Voiced Fricative Deletion (5) Simplification (14) Voice Assimilation (16) Fricative-Occlusive Rule (17)

'old w o m a n '

1 yréa | 1 rría 1 1 rrya I 1 rryá 1 1 rrká ι /rká/

Raising (2) Yodization (4) Yod Destressing (7) Cy Rules (11) Simplification (14)

'teeth'

1 Sóntia I 1 9óntya | 1 9ón5ya| 1 9ón8¡£a | 19ónka I /Sójika/

Yodization (4) Dental Lenition (6) Cy Rules (11) Simplification (14) Nasal Assimilation (18)

'thighs'

1 puttía I 1 puttya 1 1 putSya | 1 put9yá 1 1 pu99yáI 1 pueeu I 1 pu0ífá I /pu9ká/

Yodization (4) Dental Lenition (6) Yod Destressing (7) Dental Fricative Assimilation (10) Cy Rules (11) Degemination (19) Devoicing (21)

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7.0. INTRODUCTION

The present section is intended to illustrate the various dialects of Cypriot Greek spoken in what may be recognized as the four main linguistic regions: Central Cyprus, North Paphos, South Paphos and Karpas. The transcription is that described in Chapter 1, and each passage is followed by brief notes (mostly intended to specify such underlying forms as might not be readily determinable to readers with an elementary knowledge of modern Greek), and by a literal translation, which reproduces even the extreme paratactic style of the original. The texts are completely unedited, tiresome though the continual false starts and repetitions may be. The tapes from which the texts are taken were all recorded in Cyprus in 1963 on a portable 1 7/8 i.p.s. battery-operated transistorized tape-recorder (Philips EL 3585). In spite of rather unfavourable recording conditions and frequent background noise, playback through a Uher Universal 5000 machine was found to provide fairly clear definition. Segments which cannot be clearly perceived by native speakers but which can be conjectured by them with a fair degree of confidence are parenthesized. Parenthesized dots indicate complete unintelligibility of from one to three words. The pauses which can be presumed to have resulted from false starts are indicated by dots alone. Angular brackets « » enclose segments thought to have been omitted as a result of the abnormal conditions attendant on rapid enunciation. A parenthesized query in the translation indicates uncertain meaning. Certain dissimilatory consonant losses affecting specific words quite regularly in rapid speech are not so marked but are: /ká(m)umen/ 'we do' (perfective non-past), /la(l)i/ 'he says',/pe(n)inta/ 'fifty'; the /t/ of /krató/ Ί hold' is also subject to unpredictable loss. From taped material running for a total of ten hours, such texts were selected as were most clearly and fluently enunciated and which were thought to approximate fairly closely the style of casual speech current in the area. Standardizing tendencies seem to vary considerably from speaker to speaker, but in general are much stronger in Central and Eastern Cyprus than they are in Paphos. The evidence of the taped

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material and of casual observation does not, however, confirm the common notion that the idiolects of older speakers are necessarily more immune to standardizing influences; on the contrary, the most highly dialectal specimens found came from children who had hardly come under the influence of the elementary educational system (c.f. 7.3.3) or who had dealt with them by developing what may be regarded as a fluent bilingualism (e.g. 7.3.1.). Adult informants were instructed to speak /xorkátika/ ; young children were asked to speak as they did at home rather than as they were taught to speak at school. It was found that an effective method of ensuring that children's accounts had come from purely oral sources was to request a tale about Nasreddin Hoja, whence the preponderance of such stories. Illiterate speakers are so described. The others may be assumed to have had an elementary education.

7.1. CENTRAL DIALECTS

7.1.0. The Hoja Borrows a Pot 1. émaxa lalí tu o xócas tu állu, pos ésis xarcíl lalí tu. ém mu to diás ? ce pu to yriázete i xanúmissa mu lalí tu. ói. dóz mu to símmera ce to porno lalí tu,... ce ávrio dio su to. 2. édoken tuto o áSropos. yírise mèra pú-tan na tu to 8óki épepsen tu myam maírissam mésa, ά lalí o áoropos pu tu éoken to xarcín. ékamen moról lalí tu to xarcín tu. épkaxen to o áSropos, esístilen to. 3. ístera pu kanéna 9ko méres lalí tu páo... fer mu to xarcín xóca. ínta tó-p^aes, eto ... perásan i méres. lalí tu ói lalí tu. áman ékamen pedí lalí tu, epéOane. potté xóca peOaniski to xarci. peOaníski lalí tu. afu s-ékamem maírissan c-épepsa su tin. Oélis ce xarcíl lalí tu? kirie eléison lalí as en ce xócas. to xarcím peOaníski? enna s-ankaléso lalí tu. é. píenn-ankález me lalí tu. 4. pái ankalí tom pèrni ton is-to dikastírio. ínta-m pú-kames tu yxtu su xocá, lali tu ínta-m pu tú-kama, ékama tu kamyá katâxrisi? lali tu ípem mas oti s-é8oken to xarcín tu ya 6kó méres ya tris c-én tu to 3iás. lalí tu ámma yennâ lalí tu, ém peOaníski ? lali tu yatí? eyénnisen to xarcín? eyénnisen lalí tu. mya maírissa kocameâli lalí tu. c-épepsa tu tutí c-épkaen to c-ípen efkaristó. Woman (about 90), illiterate, Karmi. 1. |éma0a|, ¡xriázete| 2. |mayírissa|, |án0ropos| 3. |3ío|. 1. "I have learned" he says to him, the hoja to the other, "that you have a pot", he says to him. "Won't you give it to me?" "Since my wife needs it", he says to him. "No, give it to me today and in the morning", he says to him, "... and tomorrow I give it to you". 2. The man gave it. The next day, on which he was to give it to him he sent to his house (literally, inside to him) a saucepan. "Ah", says the man who gave the pot to

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him. "It's had a baby", he says to him. His pot. The man took it, he stored it away. 3. After one or two days he says to him "I'm going ... Bring me the pot, hoja. Why did you take it ? Look, the days have passed", he says to him. "No", he says to him. "When it had a child", he says to him, "it died". "Pots (literally, the pot) never die, hoja". "They die" he says to him. "Since it had a saucepan for you and I sent it to you. Do you want a pot as well?" he says to him. "Lord have mercy", he says, even though he is a hoja. "Do pots die? I'm going to summon you", he says to him. "Go, summon me", he says to him. 4. He goes, he summons him, he takes him to the court. "What did you do to your neighbour, hoja?" he says to him. "What did I do to him? Did I do him any injury?" he says to him. "He tells us that he gave you his pot for two days, for three, and you don't give it to him". He says to him, "When it gives birth", he says to him, "doesn't it die?" "Why!", he says to him, "Did the pot give birth?" "It gave birth to a huge saucepan", he says to him, "and I sent him it and he took it and said 'thank you'". 7.1.1. The Hoja's Grave 1. ékofken ton klónon c-ékatsem po dà. c-apo ci o klónos c-ékofken ton, éressen δ-énas lalí tu amâ-nta-η cína pu kámnis asklaníxoca lalí tu. enna kopí o klónos c-enna ppésis káto. lalí tu ói lalí tu. òsti na pái ena 3iástima o ádropos, ttüpp. éppesen o asklaníxocas. sikónnete ppéfti s-ta vúri, nato éftasen ton. 2. lai tu éla δά lai tu. méf fíis lai tu c-afu kséris lai tu pos éxen na ppéso káto kséris oti éxen na ρβθάηο cólas. pote ínta mèra na mu pis. lalí tu én ekséro asklaníxoca. kséris lalí tu. afus tó-kseres pos enna ppéso káto. c-éppesa lai tu. pos enna peGáno en to kséris ? lai tu nna su pó póte-nna peOánis. ávrion tim paraskeví lalí tu, na páis na fkális to mnímas su lai tu cinu cí, ce na mpis mésa lai tu, c-enna peOânis lai tu. 3. pài ce cínos tim paraskev (í). fkálli ton táfon tu mpénni mes-to mníma c-ísen ta póOka tu pu pano, ópkos n-en réksi me to xtinó ékamen tu me sixxorite. ttúpp. ériksen ton káto. pâle éressen állos ttüpp. ériksen ton káto. lalí tu ... s-tus tris lalí tu, amma esú lalí tu yatí em pexanískis c-eválam me eména na pexáno me to zóri. ò-ém pexanísko. katéva ná-rto camé lalí tu na su óko myan na peBánis lai tu. ínta sú-kama asklaníxoca lalí tu. é. afus eyó en epéOana lalí tu, o állos ppéfti ém pexaníski, o állos ém pexaníski, na pexánis esú lai tu. na válume s-ton táfom mu. Same speaker. 2. |mén # fiyis|, |é0en|, |keólas|, |to # ékseres|, |vyális|, |mníman| 3. |pó8ia|, |pe0anísko|, |6óko[. 1. He was cutting the branch and sat on this side. On the other side the branch and he was cutting it. Someone was passing by; he says to him, "But what are those things that you are doing, Asklanihoja ?" he says to him. "The branch will be cut and you will fall down", he says to him. "No", he says to him. Until the man went some distance. Crash! Asklanihoja fell. He gets up, he starts to run (literally, falls into running). There he is, he has reached him.

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2. He says to him, "Come here", he says to him, "don't go away", he says to him, "since you know", he says to him, "that I would fall down, you know that I would die as well. When? tell me." He says to him, "I don't know, Asklanihoja." "You know", he says to him, "since you knew that I would fall down and I fell", he says to him. "That I shall die don't you know?" He says to him, "I shall tell you when you will die. Tomorrow Friday", he says to him, "go and dig your grave", he says to the other one (literally, that man there), "and go inside", he says to him, "and you will die", he says to him. 3. He goes, the other, on Friday, digs his grave, goes into his grave and had his feet on top. Whoever passes with his animal he made him - save the mark! - (literally, excuse me) crash! He threw him down. Again another was passing, crash! He threw him down. He says to him ... to the three ... he says to him, "But you", he says to him, "why don't you die? And they made (literally put) me die against my will (literally by force), and I'm not dying. Come down, let me come there", he says to him, "to give you one (sc. blow) so you will die." He says to him, "What did I do to you, Asklanihoja?" "Since I didn't die", he says to him, "one falls and does not die, the other does not die; die yourself", he says to him, "so we can put you in my grave." 7.1.2. The Beanstalk mya kocákari esárizen ce san esárizen ívren enan kuccín c-efítepsen ton c-elále. kuccín kuccín na fkó s-ton uranó. ce éfkiken ce epíen ce lalí skalí skalí na fkó ston uranó. éfkiken c-ívren ... 0kó mires ce lalí pkos en o kallítteros, to kalocérin oksa o simónas. lalí ... ce lalí tus c-i θ^ό kali ísasti yé mu δ-i Gkó kalí. ce eyemósan tiz myav vúrka xrímata. c-epíren ta spítin tis. ce írten mya álli kocákari, ce lalí tis pú ívres túta ta riálya, éfkika ci pas-ton uranón, c-e9ókan mu ta θ^ό aOrópi. epíen ce cíni na to vrí ce lalí kuccín kuccín na fkó s-ton uranó. éfkiken, c-epíen c-ívren tus ci ράηο. ce lalún tis ρ%όη en to kallítteros, to kalocérin oksa o simónas. lalí tus mite o énas en kalós mite o állos. ce lalí tus to kalocérin krúzume. öe tos simónar riúme. c-e6ókan tis to sakkúli yemátom pétres. epíren to ésso tis. Boy (15), Karmi. lkukkín|, |νγό|, |θίο|, |riyalia|, [anGrópi|; /pkon en to kallítteros/ is asyntactic. An old woman was sweeping and as she was sweeping she found a bean and she planted it and she used to say "Bean, bean, let me climb up to the sky." And ... she climbed up and she went and she says "Step, step, let me climb up to the sky." She went up and she found two Fates and she says, "Who is the best, the summer or the winter?" she says ... and she says to them "Both of you are good, my son (sic), both good." They filled a bag with money for her and she took it home and there came another old woman and she says to her, "Where did you find this money?" "I climbed up there to the sky. And two men gave it to me." She went as well to find it and she says, "Bean, bean, let me climb up to the sky." She climbed up and she went

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and found them up there. And they say to her "Which is the best, the summer or the winter?" She says to them, "Neither the one nor the other." And she says to them, "In summer we burn and in winter we freeze." And they gave her the sack full of stones. She took it home. 7.1.3. The Hoja''s Trousers myaf forán c-enan cerón ítan enas xócas pu epíen na ppési pas-to yóman afu ítan kalocéri c-ítam ρ irά. epíen tutos éppese, ítan níxta. c-ítan ... én ecimátun xorí páno s-to ttéllin, ... èrgete káto pu to ttéllin énas c-ekremmosúzetun ... san ton kléfti. pkánni to ttufécin tu simmarkázi ce püm, ériksen ton káto ton kléfti. katevénni káto. áflfi to fós, c-ínta-m pu xorí. ítan to ccattállin tu pu ítan kremmazméno ci páno pu tó-plinnen i yenéka. árlcepsen tu fonés i yenéka. á re χ òca, c-én e... én to kséris pu s-éplinna to ccattális su, lalí tis ce cínos, na Soksázis to0 Geón yenéka lalí tis, pó-n ímun c-eyó mésa, δε torà ítun na ime skotoménos lalí tis. Boy (14), Asha. |pan # s # to| Once upon a time there was a hoja who went to lie down on the roof since it was summer and it was hot. This man went, he lay down, it was night. And it was ... he was not sleeping. He sees on the wire ... someone comes under the wire, and was swaying ... like a thief. He takes his rifle, he aims and, bang, he threw the thief down. He comes down. He puts on the light. And what does he see? It was his trousers which were hung up there that his wife had washed. His wife began shouting at him. "Ah, hoja, and don't you ... don't you know that I washed your trousers?" He says to her, "You should thank God, woman", he says to her, "that I wasn't inside because (literally, and) now I would be dead", he says to her. 7.1.4. The Flood myáf forán ísen enax xóca, o asklamxocas, c-ísen enam martin kaló. èe laún i xorkaní re íntam pu-nna tu púmen tútu. na tu púme pos enna kámi kataklizmó ávrion, na tu laúme na ssáksi to martin na to fáme. epían tin níxta s-ton kaiménon tox xóca. lalí kséris íamen óraman pos enna kami kataklizmó, ce na ssáksis torn martin na tof fáme ce min ine ... íntam po-nna ... é. ssázo toi lalí. pú na páme, na páme pó-si nerón krió na ton issáksume na kámumen oftó na fáme, epíasin i xorkaní c-o xócas, epíran torn martin ci páno, essâksan ton, epíran ce kámposon pkotón, o xócas én c-épinnem protón, ekáman oftá ekátsan efáan ípkan emexísan, álli eyíran cí álli eyíran dá, sikónnete c-o xócas, éfkalen cé tus sákkus tus cé ta papúcca tus pu mexísan c-axíkan pu camé, cé ta puncá tus, afténni mya lampracá ékapsen ta ιilla, ékapsen ta, ksipnúsin, én ési. ré ammá tos sákkom mu pú-n-ton. ta papúcca. lalí tus ékapsa ta. é c-amán ínta tá-kapses, é inta. afu-nna kámi kataklizmón ávrion lai tus ínta ta Gélume. ya ta rúxa ya ta papúcca.

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Man (about 80), illiterate, Pano Panaya. jsfanksi|; /ssázo/ is based on standard |sfázo|; |eme0isan|, |papútsia|, |afíkan|, |punkía| (c.f. /púnka/ 'pocket'), |lamprakía|. Once there was a hoja - Asklanihoja. And he had a fine lamb. And the villagers say, "Well, what are we going to tell him? Let's tell him that there's going to be a flood tomorrow. Let's tell him to slaughter the lamb so we can eat it." They went at night to the wretched hoja. He says (sic) "D'you know, we saw a vision that there's going to be a flood. And slaughter the lamb so we can eat it and it's n o t . . . what can we do ?" "I'll slaughter it", he says. "Where shall we go?" "Let's go where there's cold water, let's slaughter it, let's make roast meat, let's eat." The villagers went, and the hoja. They took the lamb up there, they slaughtered it, and took plenty liquor. The hoja didn't drink liquor. They made roast, they sat, they ate, they drank, they got drunk. Some staggered there, others here. The hoja gets, up, took off their jackets and their shoes, which when they were drunk they had left over there, and their purses. He lights a fire, he burnt the lot. He burnt them. They wake up. There isn't (anything). "Well, but my jacket where is it, my shoes?" He says to them "I've burnt them." "Damn it, why've you burnt them?" "Why, since there's going to be a flood tomorrow", he says to them, "why do we want either clothes or shoes ?"

7.1.5. Goldhair 1. myáf forán c-enan cerón ísen enan kopellúin c-epíennen ná-vri tin tíxin tu, ce san epíennen éxasen to ... ti strata, epíennen ce ívrem mya drácena. ce lalí tu i órácena, minískis na mu ylépis to kupái? minisko lali tu ce ... o xrisomállis. 2. émine, ce myán iméra i Brácena ítan na tof fái. ístera epíen mes-tin apoGíkin ívren enan ... enan áloyo ... éna ... ápparon, ce étroen kókkala c-éna ssíllon pu étroen xórta. ce lalí tu o ssíllos áman alláksis to faim mas nna su púmen enam práma. lalí tu c-o xrisomállis allásso sas. âllakse tus to, òe lalún tu pópse i 6rácena enna Ιιιθί, ce na pa na pkásis tiz malíes pu-nna fkúsin to nerón ce to sapúni. kalá lalí tus c-o xrisomállis. 3. epíen épkaen ta, ce laún tu s-to 3rómon pu-nna mas pkáis na fiume na vális úllon áseron na mén akustúme pu-nna piénnume. kalá lalí tus c-o xrisomállis. évallen úllon áseron, ístera ísen ce myam myálim pétran, essépasen tin kalá na mém mini na faccísi t-áloyo. 4. ístera epiénnasi, san epiénnasin efáccisen t-άΐογοη, ákusen tus i drácena, pkánni mya tsúra pu ta cérata, ékatsen tus tu vúru na tus pkái. san tus ekóntepsel lalí tu to áloyo ekóntepsem mas. ekóntepsem mas lalí tu c-o xrisomállis. sírete sírete liiez málles omprós ce tes álles úlles piso, ésiren tes, ístera eyíni^en enam piknó9 dásos piso ce Ilion omprós. 5. éreksen tus o xrisomállis, ístera éftasen tus pále. kópse Ilion ákka Ilion sapúni ce sire ton omprós ce to állon úllom piso, ésire Ilion omprós ce to állom piso, ce ístera eyínikem mya myáli Iáspi piso ce mya mitsa omprós. 6. ístera evúra ... eksomakrísasim polli, ... pollá, ístera éftasen tus pále lalí tu lalí

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tu to áloyo sire Ilia ... nerón omprós ce to állon úllom piso, eksíxasen o xrisomállis c-ésiren to pollin omprós ce to llíom piso. 7. ístera to áloyon ámpleen, ksérun c-ampléusin t-áloya, ístera efkíkasi, ¿e myán íméran eOélan na skotósun tox xrisomállin, ce la ... ce lalí tu t-áloyon krúse myam mállan c-enná-rto. kalá lalí tu ce to áloyon, ... c-o xrisomállis, krúzi myam mállan ein tin óram pu ítan na ton iskotósusi, írten t-áloyon ékrusem polléz mâlles, ce ... efíasin t-álla t-áloya, c-etélyose. Boy (14), Lakatamia. Although a fluent dialect speaker, he twice uses, and immediately replaces, a standard item: /áloyo/ - /ápparon/, /polli/ - /polla/; similarly he was presumably about to say /3rómon/ in line 2. 1. |kupáoin| 2. |skillos| 3. |áxeron|, |esképasen| 4. |kérata| 7. |ampléyo|. 1. Once upon a time there was a boy and he was going to find his fortune. And as he was going he lost the ... way. He was going and he found a giantess and the giantess says to him, "Will you stay and watch my flock for me?" "I'll stay", he says, ... Goldhair. 2. He stayed and one day the giantess was going to eat him. Afterwards he went to the store, he found a ... a horse ... a horse and it was eating bones, and a dog that was eating vegetables. And the dog says to him, "When you change our food, we'll tell you something." Goldhair says to him, "I'll change it for you." He changed it for them and they say to him, "Tonight the giantess will get washed and you go and take the hairs which will come out, the water, and the soap." "Good", Goldhair says to them. 3. He went, he took them, and they say to him, "On the road by which you are going to take us so we can get away, place hay everywhere (literally, all hay) so we won't be heard where we shall be going." "Good", Goldhair says to them. He put hay everywhere; later there was a big stone. He covered it well so it would not remain for the horse to hit. 4. Afterwards they were going; as they were going the horse hit it. The giantess heard them, she takes a nanny-goat by the horns, she ran after them (literally, she sat them down to running) to catch them. As she got near them the horse says to him, "She's got near us"; "She's got near us", Goldhair says to it. "Throw, throw a few hairs in front and all the rest behind." He threw them. Afterwards it became a thick wood behind and a little in front. 5. Goldhair passed them (sic), afterwards she caught up with them again. "Cut a little, bite a little soap and throw it in front and all the rest behind." He threw a little in front and the rest behind and afterwards it became a big lake behind and a small one in front. 6. Afterwards he was running ... they got a long way off .. very far. Afterwards he caught up with them. It says to him, the horse says to him, "Throw a few ... water in front and the rest all behind." Goldhair forgot and threw most in front and the small amount behind.

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7. Afterwards the horse swam - horses know how to swim - afterwards they came out and one day they wanted to kill Goldhair and ... and the horse says to him, "Burn a hair and I'll come." "All right", the horse ... Goldhair says to him. He burns a hair at the moment they were to kill him, the horse came, he burnt many hairs and ... the other horses went away (sic), and that's the end. 7.1.6. Moon in Well 1. o papás esikóGin na pài pu tin afkín na potisi. ívren ti3 ooksaméni yemátin. yemátin ti3 3oksaménin ce ítum pansélinos c-ítun to fenkárim mes-to nerón, lipón o papás én epótise. extípisen tin kampánan. k-esikó0isan i xorkaní na pan na fkálun to áyof fós pu mésa s-ti3 ôoksaméni. pu ítun o ossós tu fenkarkú. lipón esikóBisan i xristianí, ínta-m ρό-ni? ínta-m ρό-ni? na pámel lalún na Súmen o papás ínta-m pu θέΐί. lalí tus pedyá lalí, ési enam meyálom prámam mes-ti3 3oksaméni ce prépi na to fkáhtme. ce póz na to fkálumem papá, na pkáste arpáya, ... túton pu fkállun pu mestol lákkon to nerón, pkáste arpáya pedyá lalí tus, na pámen ísos to fkálume, c-ine xári pu to0 9eól lalí tus. 2. é. esináxtisan i xristianí, epíran arpáya, epíran fkárka, tsáppes, epíran ta arpáya mes-ti3 doksaméni. i 3oksaméni íser rízes to3 dentrón. e tráva tráva, ekópisan i rízes. ppät, epíasin úlli (olóksili). eGólosen ke to nerón, kopéllya lalí tus, exáGin lalí tus ^e i xári tu Oeú. eGólosen to nerón c-exáOiken lalí. l^e étsi eksenixtísasin na fkálun to fenkárim pu mésa pu to nerón, kaló? Man (69), illiterate, Pera. 1. |avyín|, |xorianí|, |oskíos|, |fenkaríu|, |vyálumen| 2. |ftiária|; the passage contains strongly standardizing elements: the Cypriot forms for ¡\t¡, /peoyá/, /meyálom/, /xristianí/ are /ce/, /peGká/, /myálom/, /xriskaní/. /esikóGin/ is standardizing for /esikóstin/ (c.f. standard /sikóGike/). 1. The priest got up to go at dawn to water. He found the well full. The well full and it was full moon and the moon was in the well. Therefore, the priest did not water. He rang the bell. And the villagers got up to go to take the holy light from out of the well, where the reflection of the moon was. Therefore the Christians got up. "What is it? What is it ? Let's go", they say, "to see what the priest wants." He says to them, "Boys", he says to them, "there's a big thing inside the well, and we must get it out." "And how will we get it out, Father ?" "Take hooks" - that thing with which they take water out of the well - he says to them, "let's go, perhaps we'll get it out, and it's a gift (literally, grace) from God", he says to them. 2. Well, the Christians gathered. They took hooks, they took spades, pick-axes, they took the hooks into the well. The well had tree roots. Well, with all the pulling (literally, pull, pull) the roots were cut. Crash! They all went, the lot. The water became troubled. "Boys", he says to them, "it's lost", he says, "the gift of God." The water has become troubled and it's lost", he says. And thus they spent the night pulling out the moon from inside the water. That was that (literally, good?)

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7.1.7. The Two Friends 1. myan epoxín ísen kó simmaGités is - to finí, o énas itun tornarítis c-o állos finyótis. etelyósan to skolío, katópin me kerón evréOisan. o finyótis ítu ftoxós epíennen is to3 3rómon c-edúlefke. ívren ton tornarítin ton ... pú-tan simmaQité. ínta xapárka kumpáre lalí tu, kalá kumpáre. epantréftis? epantréftika. kaló? ékames kampósa peOká lalí tu o finyótis ? ékama pentéksi c-ém poro na ta zíso. ce parpató ce Suléfko mes-ti stráta ci 3á na zíso ta peOká mu. esí lalí tu tornanti ? éxo Qkó ta peOká. Qkó peBká ékama lalí tu. allá Sóksasi o Geós perno vasiliká. kalá. epérnan kata sinéxya o finyótis c-epíen c-e3úlefken is-tuz drómus. 2. myán iméran afú ton í3en étsi katástasi o filos tu, ezimosen i yenéka. c-évalen tu 3éka lires xrisés mes-to psumí. éSoken tu to psumí, na c-esú lalí ena psumí. c-ezímosen i yenéka na fáis. mólis epérasen parakáto po-n i eklisía o áyos dimítris, ívren ena kkirací c-érketum páno. lalí tu ré kumpáre nomízo kraís psumím parapáno. 3iáz mu c-eména psumí? to psumí 0kó yrósa eni lalí tu alla-nna su Bóko tría, eprotímise c-é3olce to psumí pu tú-8oken o filos tu, c-epíen is ta mandriá épkaen kamya rénka elyés na fái me to psumín po-kráe. ftoxós ácropos. 3. katópin pernún pentéksi méres n-akúsi enan kalóx xapári pu tof filón tu pú-vale 9éka lires mes-to psumín tu. típote en éine. lalí tu re kumpáre cínon to psumí pu sú3oka ínta tó-kames. lalí tu kumpáre, ama c-epía parakáto ívra ena kkirací, c-é3okem mu tría yrósa c-epíen c-épkaem pu ta mantriá elyés c-éfae me to psumím mu lalí tu. íse átixos lalí tu. me cínon to psumí évala su 3éka lires xrisés. e ínta-ksera lalí tu. 4. katópin áfiken tom me kerón. epíen is to orómon ci káto po-n-to ... ési enay yofírim makrí po-ne s-ta mantriá. évale mes-s-ena mantilúi kampósa selínya lires, c-é3isen ta kómpo c-évalen ta mes-tim mési tu yofirkú. c-eperímenen tof filón tu ya ηά-rti. na ta pkási. efl